José Antonio Rojas Caballero returned this Wednesday to share with CiberCuba the conclusion of his story. He did so a year after going live on this platform from a hospital in Santiago de Cuba, where his son, Manuel Alejandro, at that time 24 years old and a cystic fibrosis patient, had been hospitalized for a while fighting to breathe.
A year later, the family lives in Spain and Manuel Alejandro takes the bus alone to go to the hospital with his oxygen concentrator, gives himself his injections, and is now waiting for a lung transplant that was impossible in Cuba and which is free in Spain because there is public, universal, free, and quality healthcare.
In March 2025, Tony spoke from the Juan Bruno Zayas Clinical Surgical Hospital in Santiago de Cuba, where Manuel had been hospitalized for over 120 days with reduced lung function to 25% and without access to essential medications. Cuban doctors spoke daily of the high probability of his death and urged the father to be strong, implying that he should prepare for the worst.
The departure to Spain was made possible thanks to the visibility of the case through CiberCuba and the treatment that Tony describes as "seven stars" from the Spanish consulate.
"I had to arrive (at the Spanish Consulate) with Manuel in my arms because I had no other option. Cyanotic, blue, with an oxygen saturation of 40. Painful things," he recounted.
He also mentioned that he faced a lot of pressure, including insinuations that everything he did was not for his son's health but rather opportunistically to escape Cuba. However, he endured the pressure, and today his life has changed because his son's life has changed; he is no longer fighting to breathe but rather waiting for a lung transplant.
To the Cuban mothers of children with cystic fibrosis who are enduring hardships in Cuba due to a lack of pancreatin, electricity, and food, I send encouragement and urge them to continue fighting for their children's lives.
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