By Raoul V. Mowatt. Tribune Staff Writer.
Chicago Tribune. November 29,
2000.
Raudel Medina Alfonso began the journey home to Cuba on Tuesday, with
doctors from Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital confident that they have
solved the 8-year-old's rare liver problem.
Before boarding a plane at O'Hare International Airport, a shy Raudel said
through a translator that he enjoyed his time here and was grateful for the
procedure he underwent.
He said he hoped to return when the weather was more favorable. "He
hated to bundle up," said hospital spokeswoman Elena Harrell, the
translator.
Raudel had portal vein thrombosis, a disorder that restricted blood flow to
his liver. It caused him to cough up blood and enlarged his spleen. He became
the subject of front-page news just over a year ago, when Gov. George Ryan won
the approval of Cuban President Fidel Castro to bring Raudel to the U.S. for
treatment.
Last year, Raudel was checked out at the UNC Hospitals at the University of
North Carolina in Chapel Hill and returned to Cuba after he underwent treatment.
But after his condition worsened, he returned to the U.S. in October.
In nine hours of surgery Oct. 26, Dr. Riccardo Superina removed a vein from
Raudel's neck and used it to bypass a clotted vein in his liver.
The doctor approved Raudel's return to Cuba after a recent examination, but
he hopes to retest him next year. "I'm always sorry to say goodbye to
patients, but in his case, he was happy to go back home," Superina said.
Dennis Culloton, Ryan's spokesman, said the governor was glad to hear that
Raudel's prognosis seemed optimistic.
"This is an example of the type of goodwill and humanitarian exchange
the governor sought to create" with Cuba, Culloton said.
While in Chicago, Raudel stayed at the Ronald McDonald House. He also did a
fair amount of sightseeing. He visited Navy Pier, cruised on the Spirit of
Chicago and went to the Museum of Science and Industry. But his favorite was the
Sears Tower, Harrell said.
But Raudel was eager to go home to warmer weather and because he missed his
father, Raul Medina, 52.
Raudel was to arrive in his hometown of Matanzas Wednesday. He was traveling
with two Cuban doctors and his mother, Idalmis Alfonso, 32. He had Tarzan, King
Kong and 101 Dalmatians with him too.
"He took back a lot of video games and cartoons, some things he didn't
have over there," Harrell said. | 