The most complex surgery Gustavo Petro has ever had was in August 2012. At the time, he was the mayor of Bogota. He received a severe blow to the head, the details of which are unclear, with possible neurological consequences. A hematoma forms, requiring urgent intervention. The Santa Fe Foundation operating room awaits him. He required two surgeries to make a full recovery, and after a few weeks he covered his head with a hat and his hair grew back.
It was his first serious health problem in fifty years after he ventured through the Colombian jungle with a rifle slung over his shoulder, with guerrillas demanding secrecy because they didn’t know where or under what conditions the dawn would rise.
He sprained his ankle on more than one occasion, the result of prolonged walking in the guerrillas, an experience that left him with aftereffects associated with a depressed or anxious state, which he suffered for a long time, as he did with his friend El. Holman put it in his autobiography written in four hands by the Morris reporter.
Health loss and workforce impact
As a public figure, he inevitably receives media attention, and his health has not been spared, as medical absences have been a regular occurrence since he entered Congress as a House representative in 1998.
In the four years to 2022, Gustavo Petro was absent 11 times and “raised at least 12 other excuses, possibly for medical reasons,” according to the La Silla Vacía website. The health problems that disabled him were related to knees, bronchitis and even eye injuries.
The cancer bell he faced in Cuba
Shortly after becoming mayor, the stress caused him to develop ulcers and be hospitalized, but the worst was yet to come. At the beginning of April 2020, no planes could enter or leave the country. The quarantine order was enacted in response to COVID-19, and Senator Gustavo Petro made a surprise appearance in Havana at the last minute and shared a video on his Twitter account in which He announced that on March 2 of that year, he had been diagnosed with “early cancer of the esophagus-stomach junction” in Cuba.
In the same media, he confirmed that the gastroenterology unit headed by Dr. Fernando Serra of the Santa Fe Foundation had carried out tests, but he finally decided to receive treatment in Cuba. His status as a senator and presidential candidate has drawn criticism on more than one occasion for not being treated in Colombia.
Petro arrived in Cuba via Panama and underwent surgery on April 13, 2020, “in an attempt to completely remove the damaged tissue” and stated that “because the tissue where the lesion is located is fragile, it can be completely removed if After the presence of cancer is confirmed, I will enter chemotherapy and radiation treatment.”
It was unclear whether the current Colombian president had to undergo any treatment at the Cimeq Medical Center in Havana, a highly complex center, where he underwent an endoscopy and a scan of the mucosa to confirm the tumor.
The man who performed the surgery was Roberto Castellanos, a doctor who professionally accompanied Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in his battle against cancer, which Chávez ultimately did not win, And kept it a secret until his death.
Facing Death from Coronavirus (COVID-19)
A year after the bells beat cancer in Havana, he saw the face of death in Italy. In March 2021, he had been on vacation in Florence, Italy, when he fell to his knees at the Santa Maria Anusiatta Hospital in Florence, Italy, facing nearby fears of death. This is how he narrates it in a touching text written in his own hand published on the Cuarto de hora portal https://www.las2orillas.co/el-pavor-a-la-muerte-por-covid-de- petro-en-un-italian hospital/
“Coronavirus death has come, she came to my bed, as Miguel Hernandez said, careless life let her come in and walk beside my stretcher, maybe she looked ironically, contemptuously I, then go and hug the weakest.” , to the neediest, to the loneliest. That night, I brought Paul to myself. I broke down. “
Frustrated, he even manages to say goodbye to his wife Veronica and daughter: “They made it possible for me to communicate with Veronica and to step out of the depths of solitude. There, through the first contact with Vero and my daughter, I was able to breathe the all-important oxygen. Their voices were like a balm cloth in pain, imbued with a powerful breath. From there, I was able to re-establish connection with roaming
Contact with Columbia is suspended, so I reconnect with the world where distant Colombia still exists, and she is unaware of my journey. One day they told me I was leaving. I can already breathe on my own and all indicators are fine. Pneumonia has been defeated. “The difficult events related to the health condition appear to be the result of President Gustavo Petro’s absence of 25 working days in his first year in office, leading him to cancel more than 80 public commitments, El Columbian newspaper reported. Particularly important. The last was Andy’s convention, which prompted some members of Congress to demand the president’s support for disclosing his health and providing medical reports.