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BEHIND THE STRIPES

The Fallas Family

By Atlanta United FC

October 17^th, 2025

Humberto Fallas has a picture on his phone of an empty bedroom. It’s something he turns to whenever he’s afraid, whenever life gets tough, whenever he needs something to pick him up.

Because, sometimes, that’s all we need. Something, someone to pick us up.

Humberto’s son, Liam, was in bad condition May 10, 2018. He had been battling a bacterial infection called C. diff for weeks, and that day things took a turn for the worse. Liam was unresponsive to treatment, and according to Humberto, his vitals “basically collapsed”.

Then, he got a message. It was from former Atlanta United forward Josef Martínez.

“You hit your bottom low as far as hope, and just when you start thinking that ‘what if’, the following day, a video from Josef Martínez came in as I was having lunch,” Humberto said. “In that video, he gave us all encouragement. It [made] a big impact, and it allowed us to know how the words of a player have a huge positive push on people.”

Liam received the video while at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. In it, Martínez promised to send another later with the rest of the Atlanta United squad.

“Sending you a strong hug,” Martínez said in Spanish. “Everything will go well.”

“I was really happy,” Liam said. “I was mainly emotional because I didn't know if I was going to make it out of there.”

He didn’t know it then, but those words were the beginning of a miraculous recovery. Liam only got healthier from that day on.

To think there was a point in time where him playing soccer, much less living to see another day, was in jeopardy is truly hard to fathom. How his illness first presented is even more unbelievable — just an abscess on his tooth. A simple antibiotic from the dentist didn’t improve his condition, and that was when the Fallas family learned about C. diff. It affects the colon, releasing toxins that infect the intestinal lining.

“I was definitely scared. I didn't know what was happening,” Liam said. “Everybody was freaking out, and it was weird to me because I was so young.”

When he didn’t know where to go, those around him lifted him up. Josef’s words were one unexpected source, while his family’s love and care was always there.

“It meant everything to me,” Liam said. “My mom stayed with me that whole time, and she definitely helped me a lot about supporting me and just getting me through those tough times.”

Liam’s road to recovery was a true test of familial love and the power of encouragement.

“Words have a lot of power, and the brain is the most powerful organ in the body,” Humberto said. “Sometimes you need a little lift. Medically, emotionally, psychologically, [words are] a very powerful thing to have, especially on one of the worst days of my life.”

The Fallas family have been Atlanta United fans since the club’s inaugural season. Liam is enamored by “lively” crowds, from the Bobby Dodd days to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. His fandom didn’t dwindle one bit during even the worse days of his illness. He watched matches no matter what, even once after a surgery.

Liam’s hospital room was decorated in Atlanta United fashion, and the club hooked him up with merch so he could rep the team. Supporting the team allowed him to rally around something positive while he himself rallied to beat his illness.

Safe to say the sight of Josef Martínez on their screen — with a personal message telling Liam to stay strong and wishing him all the best — was profoundly impactful.

“It's amazing. Honestly, he’s one of my idols,” Liam said. “To see him go do this thing, play some good football, it means the world to me.”

Martínez’s message wasn’t the end of the support. Atlanta United invited Liam out to the club’s match against Seattle Sounders July 13, 2018. Not but a few months out from being in critical condition, Liam stepped out onto the field with a wide grin and kicked the first pass, an old club tradition to start matches.

Ever since that video, no matter where Martínez plays football, the Fallas family are some of his biggest supporters.

“It was a tremendous gesture,” Humberto said. “My father, who lives in Costa Rica, his health is very shaky lately, but he remembers Josef, and he asks about Josef all the time. All that because he remembers that gesture as something wonderful.”

Liam is happy, healthy and not looking back. He’s confident he has a long life of playing football ahead of him. Liam plays for the U-16 and U-17 teams for McDonough club Georgia Revolution. Soccer, to him, is everything.

“I love it more than anything in the world,” he said.

The Fallas family’s relationship with the club didn’t end in 2018. Earlier this month, Atlanta United invited Humberto, Liam and his brother to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground for a tour of the facilities. Liam sported a Connector kit with No. 10, Almirón on the back, complete with the Paraguayan star’s signature.

Humberto said Miggy gave his own words of encouragement to the family when he heard their story.

“When you hear from a great athlete that represents the city,” Humberto said, “giving you a personal encouragement message, it gives you hope.”

Having been forged in some of the darkest times imaginable, the Fallas family is stronger on the other side of it, fortified through love and the encouragement of others.

“A tree that gets damaged, the root system grows stronger to make sure that those branches that were damaged come back bigger and better,” Humberto said. “Life, to me, is like that. There's always a positive you could extract from everything, even from not so good moments that we go through.”

There will always be more tough times, but Humberto will always return to that photo of an empty bedroom whenever he needs to be picked up. It’s Liam’s empty bedroom, time stamped May 10, 2018, the day his illness took a turn for the worse.

“I took a picture of his bedroom that day because I didn't know if that bedroom will have him come back,” Humberto said. “I told myself, ‘I wish I could fast forward time a year from now and make sure that this bedroom is full and he's back.’ That picture, I look at it every time I have a tough moment. It reminds me of how there's been really tough moments in my life that makes everything else more digestible … just as a reminder of hope and how [there are] better times to come.”