Young Man with Lymphedema Seeks Financial Help: "I Am an Orphan"

The young Cuban Dayan Sotolongo, who suffers from elephantiasis in both legs, has reiterated his plea for financial assistance to travel to Spain where he can receive treatment. "Please, I ask from the bottom of my heart to those watching this video to help me. I had to leave the place where I was living to come to Havana to start treatment and to initiate the procedures to travel to Spain for surgery," the young man explained in a video published by the independent media outlet CubaNet.

Dayan is a 19-year-old from Pinar del Río who can barely walk and suffers from severe pain due to the fourth-degree lymphedema in his limbs. His only income comes from Social Assistance amounting to 1,500 pesos, equivalent to 5 dollars in the Cuban informal market. "I'm only 19 years old. I am an orphan of both father and mother. I only have my sister alive [Dayanis Sotolongo], who is with me. I beg you, please help me financially to sustain myself," said the young man.

In May, Dayan made a financial aid request to raise the necessary funds to travel to Spain for surgery. To that end, he published his phone number (50781272) and asked anyone who could help to contact him.

His case touched comedian Andy Vázquez, who made a live broadcast to raise money. Andy described the challenges Dayan has faced in Cuba, where doctors told him there was no solution. "He has everything ready to travel to Spain; a doctor or hospital has taken responsibility and said they will operate on him, he just has to pay for the tickets. They are two orphans, they have no parents, they live alone. The sister has been helping her brother, as expected," he explained.

Andy mentioned that he would personally collect the money in his private account and asked people to contact him at +1 786-697-6201. He would respond and inform where donations could be sent. In less than an hour of starting the broadcast, the comedian managed to raise almost 1,000 dollars. "The only thing missing for him to go to Spain is the money for the tickets. As you can see, he needs to travel in first class because he can't fit in a regular seat. The first-class ticket costs 1,700 dollars (on average) and his sister's, 800. It would be a total of 2,500 dollars," he detailed.

In February, Dayan Sotolongo requested a humanitarian visa because in the Cuban healthcare system, which he attended for seven years, he received no relief for his condition. However, there are hospitals in the United States and Spain that have shown willingness to study his case and provide care.

Dayan decided to publish his case on social media to ask for help. "After I uploaded the video telling my story, people from the Communist Party of Cuba and doctors, people I had never known before, came to visit me. They said they were going to start helping me, and days go by, but so far I haven't seen anything," said the young man.

"I know that in other countries there is a machine that can detect what is causing the inflammation in my legs. They don't have it here in Cuba. It's for a lymphography. They have never done this test on me, and it could provide answers to doctors and a solution to my health problems," explained the young man in February.

"The only thing I can ask is for a humanitarian aid notice. I need to go with my sister to the United States or another country where they can cure my feet. I want to be well, to be like other young people, to live a normal life, to one day start my own family. That's all I ask. Here in Cuba, I know I won't achieve it because there is nothing," he emphasized.