Posted in CubaNet, January 14
CIEGO DE AVILA, January 13, 1999 (Juan Carlos Leyva - Avila Cooperative of Independent Reporters, CAPI). In the town of Juan Gualberto Gómez, Matanzas, and in the farm where his parent work, lives a twelve-year old boy named Yulei Coto León.
Yulei is an unhappy, very sick child. He suffers from medullar aplasia, a type of leukemia, and needs a marrow transplant. He was diagnosed more than three years ago, and that's when his parent's struggle began. First, was the Matanzas Medical Center; then the William Soler Institute of Hematology, where the doctors who diagnosed the disease promised to operate him in the immediate future, since the child was not supposed to receive more than ten blood transfusions.
Cuba has provided the kind of help Yulei needs to hundreds of children from Chernobyl, but for over two years, his mother, Maritza León, has been calling on numerous organizations and individuals begging for help. But no help has been provided so far.
Yulei, who loves life and wants to study, is taken to school every day on a specially built grill on the back of a bicycle, since the school is four kilometers from his home and he is too weak to walk. Neighbors worry at the sight of the pale and perspiring child, but the needed help is not locally available.
His mother has searched heaven and earth. First, she went to Commander Fidel Castro's Support Group, who referred her to the Ministry of Public Health. There, she was interviewed by the highest ranking health officials, who promised help. She has a letter from the Ministry saying that her son's case is the first one in the country. But the letter is over two years old and the surgery has not yet taken place.
She has also contacted the health officials in her Province, to no avail. She visits the hospital every week, sometimes every two weeks, and meets with the director, who always gives her a different answer -- sometimes he claims there are no bed linens, others that there are no antibiotics.
She has been told by the hospital that the cost of the operation is between $25,000 to $50,000 U.S. dollars. On one occasion, a health official told her that their records show that the child already had the operation. This mother has even appealed to the religious institutions, which have made an effort to attain results, unsuccessfully.
Another time she was told that a donor was needed, so Yulei's sister volunteered, and was subjected to all the required tests in the same hospital, the William Soler. All the test results revealing that she is a match are at that hospital.
Yulei's condition is getting worse and he needs frequent transfusions. The doctors had said that he could not have more than 10 transfusions. He's already had 23. At that point, the boy's hemoglobin was at 3 points.
This child's life is hanging by a very fine thread. Will we be able to save him? Can we help him to live and study? Will the marrow transplant be performed in time? Will there be a miracle in 1999?
Yulei's address is:
Yulei Coto León
Finca Macutibo
Municipio Juan Gualberto
Gómez
Provincia
de Matanzas, Cuba
His mother, Maritza León, lives at the same address.
1/15/99
Translated for CubaNet by Elena Treto