The Colombian immigrant Sergio Vega made one last plea to President Joe Biden’s Administration on Tuesday to grant a humanitarian visa to the parents of his wife, Paula Durán, diagnosed in California with terminal cancer and who is not given more than a month of life.
“I beg President Biden to help me, to allow my wife to spend her last days of a peaceful life with the people she loves and to say goodbye to her parents,” Vega told EFE from her home in Concord, a northern city. Of California.
Vega has also asked the president to allow his parents to come to the United States on a humanitarian visa to help him deal with the looming tragedy. “There are moments when I don’t know what to do,” added the 35-year-old Colombian.
Vega has had to live through a nightmare in recent weeks.
In mid-November Durán, who was pregnant with her third child, felt ill. Initially, the couple thought the pain was due to the pregnancy.
However, the diagnosis was devastating: Durán, just 27 years old, was diagnosed with end-stage cancer. “She already had a part of a tumor in her head operated on but she continues to grow,” says Vega.
“She was a woman full of life. Before this, she had not had any health problems, ”adds the immigrant disconsolately.
Following the diagnosis, doctors induced labor at 34 weeks into the pregnancy and Durán gave birth to her third child, Juan José Vega, at the end of November. The child is in good health.
For more than a month the doctors tried to find a way to save Durán’s life, but their efforts have been in vain.
This Monday night, the young mother was sent home so that she can spend the last moments of her life with her nine-year-old daughters Luciana and Julieta, four, and their newborn baby.
Before leaving the hospital and fully lucid, Durán recorded a message to President Biden and immigration authorities asking that her parents and in-laws be allowed to travel.
In the emotional request, Durán sends greetings to the first lady of the United States, Jill Biden, and blesses her.
Immigration lawyer Jéssica Domínguez, who has taken on the case, told EFE that the couple’s request meets all the requirements for the humanitarian visa to be granted to both Durán’s and Vega’s parents.
However, it is up to the Department of State (DOS) to give the authorization.
The panorama does not look very rosy since the parents of the immigrant couple have already made a presentation at the US embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, which was rejected.
“Unfortunately (the parents) did not have advice,” warns Domínguez.
Precisely that immigration advice is what the couple and their daughters had had a hard time finding in the United States. The family arrived in the United States on May 1, 2022 in search of a better life, and the couple had been able to rent a one-bedroom apartment in late October.
“We were just adjusting to our new reality,” Vega says.
Vega has not been able to return to work since the end of November, when Durán was diagnosed, although she has received financial support from the Colombian community both in the US and in the South American country.
“The only thing I ask is that they allow our parents to come so that they can help me with our girls at this time and with her care, who needs to be with her 24 hours a day. I need to go back to work, ”Vega insists on her situation.
Vega’s call even reached the ears of the family of Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Andrea Petro, daughter of the president, contacted Durán and has promised to help him with the management of the humanitarian visa. However, the last word belongs to the US.
Durán’s life expectancy was one month last week.
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