Husband Seeks Help After Wife Diagnosed With Terminal Cancer: ‘My Soul Is Broken’

Colombian father Sergio Vega received devastating news this past holiday season. Doctors diagnosed his 27-year-old wife, Paula Durán, then a mother of two and expecting a third child, with terminal cancer.

Now, Vega fights for their extended family in Colombia to obtain humanitarian visas as his wife has just one month to live. The visas would allow the couple’s parents to help them in their time of need, and say goodbye to Paula in her final days.

The family emigrated from Colombia to the US in search of opportunities

As reported by Noticias Caracol, the family moved from Huila, Colombia, to Concord, California, in search of a better life during the pandemic. Vega explained, “We moved here because we saw the opportunities in our country were diminishing… The day me and my wife decided to leave, we came back to our apartment and had no electricity, no water, and cried together.”

Vega said that once they moved to California, “angels appeared along the way,” helping them get settled. They sold food out of their car, and Vega, and ex-footballer in Colombia, began playing in tournaments in the U.S.

A short time later, the couple received news they had often prayed for. Durán was pregnant with a third child, a boy they wanted for years, who Vega couldn’t wait to play soccer with.

The father told Univision, “We had a normal life, my wife is a healthy 27-year-old woman… her pregnancy began normally.”

Doctors diagnosed Durán with cancer while she was pregnant

However, by week 34, Durán began experiencing stomachaches, headaches, vomiting and dizziness. On November 28, her husband took her to the hospital, where they explained Paula had a brain tumor. Immediately, doctors decided to perform an emergency C-section.

Juan José was born in “perfect condition,” except for the fact his “lungs weren’t totally developed” yet. Still, he was “breathing on his own after just 24 hours,” and Vega sees his newborn son as “a symbol of strength” that motivates them. On November 30, doctors removed part of Durán’s brain tumor.

At that point, doctors informed the couple that Paula’s cancer had spread to her stomach, and is incurable. In a video posted to Instagram, Vega said he “had a meeting with all the doctors” and that gave him “news that broke [his] soul.”

The “worst news” the father ever received

The medical team gave his wife “one month to live,” becoming “the worst news” he ever received in his life. Durán will no longer receive medical treatment for her cancer at the hospital, and will instead have 24/7 hospice care during her final days. They hope they can “calm her pain” which is “killing her slowly.”

Now, Vega is fighting an intense battle for their extended family in Colombia to receive humanitarian visas to travel to the US. Specifically asking for Paula’s parents and his own parents to travel to California, Vega said “We need my in-laws and parents to be here. We need that affection… Please help me with that.”

Vega attempted to go back to Colombia with wife Paula and their children, but the doctors warned against air travel. As Vega told Univision, “The altitude pressure could swell her brain and she could die in an instant.”

The family is hoping for humanitarian visas to visit Paula

This means the only way their family can say their goodbyes to Paula is if they travel to the U.S. Humanitarian visas would also allow both of their parents to help Vega with his wife, the children, and give him a chance to go to work. As Vega told La Nación, “I’m in a country where I’m living day by day.”

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe has also been set up to help the family:

Going forward, although the father doesn’t know if he will have his wife for “30 days or one more year,” he knows he will “do everything possible for this woman to be happy.”