Lennard had to spend two weeks in an induced coma

Lennard can be adorably happy. When the eight-year-old takes his grandma by the hand, pulls her impetuously into the kitchen and gets a chocolate wafer, he jumps for joy. He eats in no time at all. Laughs. The next second he's stomping on the floor. Runs across the corridor. Throws his soft toy around the flat. Sometimes Lennard hurts himself. He doesn't seem to feel it. His behavioural problems, his autism, his aggression and his mental disability are the result of a disease that has taken a severe course in him. It is called tuberous sclerosis.

You can't cure them. Lennard's father Thomas Krietemeyer knows that. But he is stunned that his son, who suddenly developed severe intestinal haemorrhaging, was not treated. "Several clinics didn't want to admit Lennard. I felt so helpless," he says. You can see from the 42-year-old's face how much the worry about his son has worn him down. The tall man sits hunched over on the sofa, almost absorbed in himself. His legs are pressed together, his hands clenched. The single father of four has tears in his eyes as he says: "My son could have died. And only Bethel took care of him."

It was only in the third clinic that he was advised by a doctor to contact the Bethel Children's Centre. For the specialist Dr Norbert Jorch, there was no question that the child had to be helped quickly. Together with the team, he organised a special cot that Lennard needed to prevent him from hurting himself. All examinations could only be carried out under anaesthetic. Sedation had to be continued for a long time because the doctors discovered a tumour in the boy's abdomen that had to be removed immediately. "It can't be right that a child with such a disability is not operated on, even though he has a huge tumour!" says Dr Jorch.

Lennard had to be kept under anaesthetic for almost two weeks so as not to jeopardise the healing process. The boy would not have put up with accesses and wound care. Because he cannot understand what is happening to him. Lennard's father stayed in hospital day and night. Grandma Cordula Krietemeyer looked after the siblings.