My Background
I am Mayara Barreto, founder of the NGO Lugar de aconchego Menino Matias.
Matias was my only child and was diagnosed with cancer when he was just one year old. After a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, hope and despair, my son succumbed to the disease after an 18 month battle.
My own experience has shown me in a very painful way how we forget our most basic needs when we care full-time for a child who is struggling to survive.
I am a prenatal counselor, doula and breastfeeding counselor trained by GAMA (Support Group for Active Motherhood), and it is my mission to take care of those who take care of others.
In September 2022, I fulfilled my dream of opening a facility that takes care of mothers and other caregivers of children with cancer. In this way I can transform my own immense pain into healing and change the lives of others for the better through social commitment and motherly love.
Our Team
Monique Pimenta Dantas - Housekeeper
Mayara Barreto - Chairman
Iara Tavares - Social Worker
Homage to Matias
My dear son, I am firm and persevering because you have shown me how our lives can be turned upside down countless times without fate having the power to destroy our dreams—because dreams are more powerful than any reality.
My dear son, I know how to be happy because you smiled at me in the moments when my life was a vale of tears.
My dear Son, I learned to live my best version today because you taught me that life itself is the greatest gift. Learning how to live means nothing more than just living.
My dear Son, through you I have learned to love all creatures I meet and perceive, knowing that I am capable of loving. You have always seen me in this way. And because of that I was able to become the person you always saw in me.
My dear son, I know that you can hear me in the beyond! I wish so much for you know that the longing I feel to see myself reflected in your eyes will never go away.
I love you. My place for you in my heart is constantly growing, becoming evermore vast whenever I think of you.
