Jorgito (Jorge Esteban Reina Llerena) turns nine this Wednesday, cancer-free in Italy, after Cuban doctors told his mother that the only solution was a bone marrow transplant, which the island's healthcare system was unable to perform due to the structural crisis it is facing, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic.
His mother, Arlety Llerena, recounted on CiberCuba how the child arrived in Italy with a testicular tumor that tested positive for leukemia, but the radiation therapy he received in Cuba contributed to a favorable outcome.
"The testicle was indeed positive for leukemia-related cancer, but since his radiation treatment in Cuba was focused, the tumor was very localized and the margins came back negative," Arlety explained.
After the removal of the testicle, the Italian doctors determined that the boy might not relapse, although the mother acknowledged that the fear persists since Jorgito has experienced two relapses throughout his illness.
The most significant finding was that the child's bone marrow was completely clean, making the transplant that was considered inevitable in Cuba unnecessary. "His marrow was clean, you understand?" said Arlety Llerena.
The mother openly questioned the diagnostic capabilities of the Cuban healthcare system. "In Cuba, I don’t know what was happening, that they hadn’t realized; they even gave him treatment, they were already telling me that he needed to be taken for a bone marrow transplant, that some resources had come into the hospital, and the child was about to go in for the transplant at that moment, but with God's grace, he didn’t go in.”
Llerena also clarified that the treatment received on the island over the last two years was not intended to be curative. "It was more of a preventive treatment, aimed at slowing down the disease and preventing it from progressing further. But, well, it worked; it seems that it worked."
The journey to Italy was fraught with obstacles. The family applied for a visa to the United States twice and was denied on both occasions. At that time, Senator Marco Rubio intervened in the case and managed to get USCIS to prioritize the application in September 2024, but the U.S. ultimately denied the humanitarian visa arguing that the child did not qualify for humanitarian permission.
The boxer Yordenis Ugás was one of the voices that publicly criticized the U.S. refusal to grant a visa to the minor.
It was then that Arlety Llerena wrote to multiple foundations in different countries, without receiving any responses, until she reached out to a well-known figure on social media known as "Nelson el porfiado." "Until one day I wrote to this person, and thanks to him and everyone who follows him, the miracle exists today," said the mother.
That contact, along with a person named Ángela and Italian doctors, made the trip possible in about three months, with all medical expenses covered by an Italian foundation.
Arlety Llerena summarized the contrast between what could have been and what was. "Fortunately, we are in this country (Italy), and well, let's say that unfortunately, in the sense that one is not with family."
The Cuban regime described the public dissemination of the case as "manipulation" while the family fought to save the child's life outside the island.
"With God's grace, there was no need for a transplant, monoclonal therapy, or CAR-T therapy, nothing," concluded Arlety Llerena on her son's ninth birthday.
Arlety Llerena concluded her interview with CiberCuba by encouraging mothers who are experiencing a similar situation to not give up and to do everything within their power to seek medical alternatives outside of Cuba. She also clarified that all the treatment her son has received has been free of charge.
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