Young coach survives lightning strike and regains his voice after complex surgery in Cienfuegos

Carlos Limendú Torres, a 24-year-old coach of adaptive sports, survived an electric shock while waiting for transportation in his hometown of Remedios, Villa Clara.

That day, more than two years ago, changed everything, though Carlos doesn't remember anything. His only witness was a boy, one of his students, who was with him at the time of the accident.

According to the official newspaper 5 de Septiembre, the lightning strike left him in critical condition and, although he managed to survive, he faced serious aftereffects: paraplegia, severe burns, difficulty swallowing, hypersalivation, and loss of his voice due to acquired tracheal stenosis, a condition caused by prolonged mechanical ventilation.

For a long time, he lived with a tracheostomy, unable to speak or breathe through the natural route.

The only solution was a complex surgical intervention, which he discovered on his own by browsing the internet, and that’s how he arrived at the medical team in Cienfuegos.

Upon learning that surgeries of this type were being performed in that province, he contacted the specialists directly.

The case was evaluated by Dr. Daniel Olivera Fajardo and Dr. Alejandro Díaz González, who took on the challenge despite additional complications such as pharyngeal dysfunction and tracheomalacia.

The procedure involved removing the narrowed segment of the trachea and connecting the healthy ends.

It was a highly complex procedure that required a multidisciplinary team, specialized anesthesia, and a modified technique adapted to Carlos's case.

Today, Carlos is recovering in the Ear, Nose, and Throat department of the hospital in Cienfuegos and speaks for the first time in over two years.

Her voice, though still weak, reflects her resilience, and despite her condition of paraplegia and the involuntary movements she still experiences, she dreams of training again.

His mother, Raquel, has witnessed every stage and remembers the anguish of waiting for care that never arrived in Havana, and how it was her own son who found, amid searches and signs, a medical hope in Cienfuegos.

"I want to go back to work, even if it's in a wheelchair, but with my voice," says Carlos, excited, as he recovers under supervision and care.

Beside him, his mother accompanies him and helps him choose each word carefully to avoid straining what he has worked so hard to regain.

Limendú was . Although there were no human losses this time, the risk remains real.

At the beginning of the month, a tragic afternoon shook the province of Artemisa with the deaths of three minors in separate incidents that occurred in the municipality of Bauta.

Two of them, teenagers aged 13 and 16, died on June 7 after being struck by an electric shock while playing soccer outdoors in the Pita neighborhood of Urban Council 2, according to reports from the provincial newspaper El Artemiseño.

Frequently asked questions about Carlos Limendú Torres' recovery after being struck by lightning