Related videos:
The family of Vanessa Verdecia Labrada, a three-year-old girl living in Holguín, made a desperate appeal on social media to raise funds to cover a bone marrow transplant in Italy, the only available treatment to save her life.
The father of the little girl explained on Facebook that Vanessa was diagnosed approximately nine months ago with Acute Myeloid Leukemia M5, an aggressive subtype of leukemia. She received treatment at the Pediatric Hospital in Holguín, and the family believed she had entered remission, but last week she was readmitted due to low parameters.
"The doctors immediately performed a bone marrow test, and the disease reappeared," wrote Adam Verdecia, who added that "that type of leukemia has no other treatment except for a bone marrow transplant."
The man contacted a hospital in Italy that accepted the girl, but the treatment costs thousands of euros, an impossible amount for a Cuban family to gather.
"I had never asked for financial help before, but today he needs it to be able to live," wrote the father, who published his phone number -63163447- to receive direct donations.
This is not the first public call from Vanessa.
In October 2025, when the girl was two years old, activist Yan Cuba Nayara, who leads the humanitarian project "Luz del Corazón," and citizen Ernesto Almaguer Díaz mobilized the community on Facebook to secure urgent platelet donations—two daily—while Vanessa remained hospitalized in the same pediatric hospital in Holguín.
Now, Yan Cuba Nayara is making another call: "Please, to everyone who has donated to the humanitarian project Luz del Corazón at any time, contact Vanessa's dad or mom. We helped this princess once, but now she really needs all the possible assistance."
Vanessa's case starkly highlights the limitations of the Cuban healthcare system.
Cuba does not perform pediatric bone marrow transplants and is not listed in any international donor registry, which forces families to seek treatment abroad at costs ranging from 65,000 to 160,000 euros.
This drama unfolds against the backdrop of a documented healthcare collapse: the Ministry of Public Health acknowledged in July 2025 that only 30% of the essential medicines are available, and infant mortality climbed to 8.2 deaths per one thousand live births, up from 3.9 in 2018, an increase of nearly 110% over seven years.
The William Soler Pediatric Hospital in Havana has been reported as completely overwhelmed in October 2025, facing overcrowded emergency rooms, a shortage of staff, and a lack of supplies, a situation that is mirrored in pediatric centers across the country.
Vanessa's case is not unique. Since 2022, multiple Cuban families have had to resort to humanitarian visas or international fundraising campaigns to access bone marrow transplants that the Cuban government is unable to provide, and in many cases, the visas have been denied.
Filed under: