In memoriam

Nacho suffered from a severe pectus excavatum and in the summer of 2004 he was operated on the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters of Norkolf, Virgina, United States of America, by Dr Donald Nuss and his team, with the assistance of Dr Leoncio Bento, manager of the Paediatric Surgery area at the Hospital of Virgen del Camino in Pamplona.

Dr Bento was the first to diagnose Nacho's pectus. In order to restore his thorax to its normal position, it was necessary to put two bars inside his chest.

The operation was successful and in the summer of 2005, he was glad to go with his friends to the beach without having to hide his deformation in the chest.

In autumn 2007, it was expected to take the two bars out. Notwithstanding, on 1 October of that same year, Nacho died in an accident at the age of 20.

Regarding the lack of information and the anxiety suffered by Nacho and his parents until they found out Dr Bento as the reference surgeon of pectus surgery in Spain, and Dr Nuss as the pioneer of the newborn bar technique, we want to convert our pain for the loss of Nacho into this project to help parents and children with the same disease.

After seeking advice and talking to doctors that are at the avant-garde in the treatment of this disease, we thought that the best way was to start up this website in order to add the maximum existent information about the pectus and its treatments. An analysis from a paediatric and psychological approach is included, as well as a forum where parents and patients can exchange their worries and experiences.

We want to leave proof of our most sincere and special gratitude to doctors Donald Nuss and Leoncio Bento for their humanity, simplicity and wisdom when operating on our son and, for being the main scientific support for this website. We will never be able to show gratitude enough for the fact of believing in this idea and supporting it. We wish that lots of families will be able to beneficiate from its content.

Our special thankfulness to Dr Roberto de Inocencio, psychiatrist; to the paediatric Dr Tito Hidalgo; to Dr Antonio González, microbiological scientist; and to Mrs María José Gil, physiotherapist for their willingness to collaborate from the beginning in this project.

Thanks to the programmers of the Infotelecom Network S.L. Company, with Mr Carlos Permuy as the head, who have designed and developed technically this website.

Our special gratitude to Mrs Mª Elena Graña, Mrs Carmen Arranz, and Mr Antonio Sintes for their legal counselling.

Our emotions are stirred by Mr Miguel Barceló and Mr Mario de Inocencio, unconditional friends and musically linked to Nacho, who have respectively created and produced the theme of the section In Memoriam.

Our hope is this project to be alive and opened to all, in which the new scientific contributions to the treatment techniques of the pectus will be integrated and, the experiences from the patients will be presented in the forum.

His parents and his brother dedicate this website to Nacho's memory.

Marcel CarrerasMaría José Moreda Xavier Carreras