Arlety Llerena Martínez, the mother of Jorgito Reina, the Cuban boy with leukemia, who has been waiting for a humanitarian visa to be able to travel to the United States for almost a year, survives as best as she can through the complete, partial, and massive blackouts that have kept Cubans on edge since Friday, October 18.
Mother and son are still waiting to be able to leave Cuba as soon as possible so that the 7-year-old can undergo a bone marrow transplant at Nicklaus Children Hospital in Florida, which has accepted his case.
In an interview granted to CiberCuba, Arlety Llerena explained that what she finds hardest about the blackouts is the lack of water, and her son, having low immunity, needs very strict hygienic conditions. They have had such a tough time that, as she recounts, they have even had trouble obtaining drinking water and have had to ask their neighbors for help because the child, in his condition, cannot drink just anything.
Jorgito Reina, who next week begins a phase of chemotherapy, is not aware, his mother adds, that his life depends on being granted a humanitarian visa to travel as soon as possible to the United States, where his dad lives. He does not know that time is running against him.
Last September, the boy's father contacted the office of Republican Senator Marco Rubio to seek his intervention with the Immigration Service (USCIS), and the Cuban-American politician secured a commitment from the agency to prioritize the review of Jorgito Reina's case.
As expected, Marco Rubio's intervention in the case was not well received by the Cuban regime, which staged a television show, interviewed the doctors treating the boy, and used photos of the minor and his mother, taken without her permission from her Facebook, to discuss the case. In the interview, Arlety Llerena and her son's illness were mentioned, and paradoxically, the protagonists of the story were not invited to participate in the official press report.
Arlety Llerena explains that she found out about what happened as just another viewer, because the neighbors informed her that it had been featured in the news. In any case, her concerns are not political at the moment, but are focused on her son's health.
The child, in this interview with CiberCuba, assures that what he struggles with the most is not the chemotherapy or its side effects, but not being able to play with other children, not being able to go to a birthday party or to a park. His family makes an effort, but they know he is at great risk because, due to his illness, he is immunocompromised, which leads to, for example, maintaining injuries on his head that do not heal.
Although the child apparently looks fine physically, the mother clarifies that there is a difference between appearances and the sleepless nights caused by his abdominal pain and poor digestion. "He takes more medicine than food and is swollen," she adds.
At the end of the interview with CiberCuba, Arlety Llerena addressed USCIS to plead for a humanitarian visa that would help her son regain his childhood, because while he waits, one day passes after another and each time his health deteriorates more.
She is aware that she is not the only Cuban mother currently going through such a delicate situation, but she pleads for her son because the only hope she has for survival is at the Nicklaus Children Hospital in Florida.
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