The young Cuban Dayan Sotolongo, who suffers from elephantiasis in both legs, reiterated his request for financial assistance to travel to Spain, where he can receive treatment.
"Please, I wholeheartedly ask the people watching this video to help me. I had to leave the place where I was living to come to Havana to start a treatment and to be able to process my trip to Spain for surgery," explained the young man in a video published by the independent media CubaNet.
Dayan is a 19-year-old boy from Pinar del Río who can barely walk and suffers from severe pain due to the fourth-degree lymphedema he experiences in his limbs. His only income comes from a social assistance grant of 1,500 pesos, equivalent to 5 dollars in the Cuban informal market.
"I am only 19 years old. I am an orphan with no father or mother. I only have my sister alive [Dayanis Sotolongo], who is the one with me. I beg you, please help me financially so that I can support myself," said the young man.
In May, Dayan made a request for financial help to raise the money needed to travel to Spain for surgery. To do this, he published his phone number (50781272) and asked anyone who could help to write to him.
His case moved the comedian Andy Vázquez, who did a live stream to raise money. Andy described the problems Dayan has suffered in Cuba, where doctors told him they have no solution at all.
"He already has everything to travel to Spain; a doctor or a hospital has already taken charge and told him that he is going to operate, he just needs to pay for the tickets. They are two orphans, they have neither father nor mother, they live alone. The sister has taken it upon herself to help her little brother, as is logical," he explained.
Andy noted that he himself will raise the money in his private account. For this, he asked them to contact the number +1 786-697-6201. He will respond to them and tell them where they can send the donations. In less than an hour after starting the live stream, the comedian managed to gather almost $1,000.
"The only thing he needs to be able to go to Spain is the money for the ticket. As you can see his legs, he has to go in first class because he doesn't fit in a regular seat. The first-class ticket costs 1,700 dollars (on average) and his sister's ticket is 800. It would be a total of 2,500 dollars," he detailed.
In February, Dayan Sotolongo requested a humanitarian visa because in the Cuban healthcare system, which he relied on for seven years, they did not even provide him with relief for his illness. However, there are hospitals in the United States and Spain that expressed willingness to review his case and provide treatment.
Dayan decided to publish his case on social media to ask for help. "Since I uploaded the video telling my story, people from the Communist Party of Cuba and doctors came to visit me, people I had never met before. They said they were going to start helping me, and days are going by, but so far I haven't seen anything," said the young man.
"I know that in other countries there is a machine that can detect what causes the inflammation in my legs. There aren't any here in Cuba. It's for a lymphography. I have never had that test done, and it could provide answers to the doctors and a solution to my health problems," explained the young man in February.
"The only thing I can ask is that, please, give a notice for humanitarian aid. I need to go with my sister to the United States or another country where they can treat my feet. I would like to be well, to be like other young people, to live my normal life, and one day to create my own family. That's all I ask. Here in Cuba, I know I won't achieve it, because there is nothing," he emphasized.
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