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Cuban teenagers are ready
to walk again
Ernesto Lopez and Yamelis
Salazar are having prosthetic limbs fitted
thanks to £10,000 raised by council
workers.
Glasgow
Evening Times, UK, May 3, 2005.
Having battled life-threatening cancer
and being forced to have his left leg amputated,
the 18-year-old has just arrived in the
city to be fitted with a prosthetic limb
thanks to £10,000 raised by big-hearted
council workers.
Ernesto has just phoned his mum Ana Maria,
who's more than 4000 miles away in their
home town of Santiago de Cuba, and his eyes
are shining.
He said: "Talking to my mother made
me even more determined to do well with
my treatment in Glasgow."
Ernesto has joined fellow Cuban amputee
Yamelis Salazar, whose story was featured
in the Evening Times last month, in Glasgow
to have a prosthetic limb fitted.
Prosthetics weren't available to the teenagers
back home, so Glasgow City Council staff
raised more than £10,000 for the pair
to travel to Scotland for treatment.
Ernesto has been catching up with Yamelis,
17, who arrived last month and has already
been walking for 30 minutes on her trial
prosthesis.
Talking to her has prepared him for his
first consultation with Dr Bill Spence,
a prosthetist based at Strathclyde University.
Ernesto's Spanish-English phrasebook has
been well-leafed since his arrival. Every
moment is a precious learning opportunity
for when he returns home to Cuba to study
English and communications at university.
The last two years have been plagued with
pain for the youngster.
Speaking through Antonio Aguila, a Cuban
immunologist who lives in Glasgow, Ernesto
told the harrowing details of his hospital
treatment.
He said: "I found out the day before
the operation that my leg was to be amputated.
"That was a time of shock but if they
didn't amputate it would put my life at
risk, so I just had to do it."
It was after he fell just before his 16th
birthday that Ernesto's problems started.
The swelling and inflammation in his knee
didn't subside for months and he was in
excruciating pain.
Doctors at the hospital in Santiago de
Cuba carried out a biopsy, which proved
clear. When the pain continued, Ernesto
and his mother returned to the doctors for
another biopsy.
This time around they diagnosed severe
osteomyelitis, or infection of the bone,
and had Ernesto transferred to Havana, where
doctors suspected cancer and gave him his
first cycle of chemotherapy.
"Then they discovered dead tissue
in my knee, so they knew that it was something
more than osteomyelitis. They didn't want
to wait to see if there was cancer, so they
took the decision to amputate the leg."
Ernesto's left leg was amputated above
the knee in November 2003. The doctors diagnosed
Ewing's Sarcoma, the same rare and aggressive
cancer of the bone that led to Yamelis losing
her leg.
The pair then came to the attention of
George Paterson, who works for Glasgow City
Council and who was in Havana on a business
trip.
Touched by the bravery of Ernesto and Yamelis,
Mr Paterson worked for two years to bring
the teenagers to Glasgow.
Ernesto said: "I feel very emotional
about all the people who have helped to
raise funds for me and Yamelis to come to
Glasgow."
"Having a prosthetic leg will mean
doing the things that I used to be able
to.
"It will be wonderful because it will
give me the independence for university
and to live my life on a more independent
basis."
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© 2005 Newsquest (Herald & Times)
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