Children from a primary school in Sancti Spiritus and their parents joined forces to save the life of their teacher, a sixty-year-old who has been suffering from a complex kidney disease for five years and yet traveled daily from Cabaiguán to the municipal headquarters to teach, never missing a day.
Disney González Varela, mother of the little Gabriela, recounted her impression when last September she met Ramón Rodríguez Pérez, a fifth-grade teacher.
In the first meeting of the school year, he told the parents of his 38 students that since 2019 he had been wearing a percutaneous nephrostomy tube that allowed urine to drain from his left kidney.
When he showed the collection bag, everyone was left speechless; no one imagined that the teacher, who had been dealing with that health situation for almost five years, traveled from Nieves Morejón to here to teach without complaining. Of course, our hearts were moved by all this," the woman told the Escambray weekly.
Disney decided to speak with Dr. Javier Enrique García Cordero, a urologist and her neighbor, to evaluate the case, without knowing that his daughter Gabriela had already spoken to him.
"I sneaked out of my mom and dad's house and went to Doctor Javier's house, who is our neighbor. I told him: 'Doctor, please operate on my teacher because he is very sick. He goes to class with a hose hanging from his back. Save him, he is very kind,'" the girl proudly recounted.
When Dr. Javier spoke with the parents, he had already decided to take on the case. "Gabriela almost made me cry...", he said to her parents.
After evaluating the patient, a multidisciplinary team from the Urology Service of the Camilo Cienfuegos Provincial General Hospital performed three endoscopic surgeries on teacher Ramón.
The professor had already undergone surgery three times and had experienced complications and sequelae, but now he underwent a minimally invasive urological procedure.
In the first surgery, an endoscopic equipment was inserted through the urethra to access the site of the obstruction, where there was a calculus (disease caused by stones) that could be fragmented and the narrowing of the duct overcome; as there were small fragments left, a catheter was placed. In the second intervention, all remains of the calculus were removed and the catheter was changed to dilate the damaged ureter. In the last operation, the catheter was removed.
"Ramón has evolved satisfactorily. The evolutionary studies conducted so far reveal a completely normal kidney," the specialist stated.
According to Maidelys Lorenzo, mother of the girl Isabela, throughout the whole process the parents of the students rallied around the teacher.
We created a WhatsApp group and gathered all the supplies needed for the surgery, from sutures, syringes, gloves, everything. Some we bought, others were donated. We also made a list that was updated daily to bring breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the teacher and his accompanying family member. We brought soap, toilet paper, toothpaste; in other words, whatever was needed," he detailed.
Ramón's recovery and return to the classroom were celebrated in a big way at Serafín Sánchez Valdivia Elementary School, where a party was held to welcome him back and to thank Dr. Javier and his team.
"Even when I'm sick, I haven't stopped keeping an eye on my students; as we say, I am a hard worker, I work hard on the content. The most important thing is for them to learn, and to learn well," emphasized the teacher.
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