He'd like to go out and visit his son, because despite his illness, he doesn't want to feel defeated. Instead, Paolo Nieddu, 78, a resident of Quartu, is forced to stay at home . The disease had already manifested itself in the 1980s, then worsened in 2011. Since then, Nieddu has hardly gotten out of bed, and when he does, he's forced to move around only in a wheelchair.
The last one was provided to him in 2023 by the local health authority, but, says his wife, Maria Ausilia Cannas, "unfortunately, it's not suitable. That wheelchair is only suitable for indoors, and it doesn't lie flat, so my husband can't fit in it." So, since 2023, Nieddu hasn't been able to leave the house. "Not even to visit his son who lives across the street," adds his wife, "because there are two steps he can't climb with that wheelchair, and I, at 76, don't have the strength to lift him. We've never even been able to visit our other son in Oristano."
Over the years, "I've made the request several times, but the wheelchair has never been replaced. They say we can't have it because they've already given us one, but the one for my husband isn't right. Even the technician who came to fix it immediately realized it wasn't suitable. Both because it's an indoor wheelchair and because it doesn't lie flat. We don't know what to do or who to turn to. Even my husband, in those conditions, has the right to be able to go out and get some fresh air."
