A mother found out she was expecting her fourth child in a small, impoverished family on the island of Madeira. She believed she could not support another mouth to feed because the family was already having financial difficulties.
She requested an abortion from her physician. He declined, informing her that she was healthy and young enough to give birth. In a desperate attempt to terminate the pregnancy on her own, she ran till she passed out using a traditional treatment. Nothing was effective.
Months later, a baby boy was born into that same tin-roofed, packed house as the pregnancy went on. To support the family, his mother cooked and cleaned while his father worked as a gardener. Even if life was still difficult, the boy fell in love with football at a young age.
As a preteen, he moved away from home to pursue his dream and trained nonstop. He was rapidly identified by talent scouts, and by the time he was a teenager, big teams were vying for his signing.
One of the greatest football players of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo, was once the baby boy his mother tried not to have. His mother now says she thinks God kept him here.
