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They miss the way he used to be. He was a different Pedro then. One they
knew.
He was a clown, full of energy. Always tinkering with cars. Studying to
be a mechanic. He played basketball, was social, handsome, popular with
the girls, tall, thin, 135 pounds. He liked to wear earrings, hoops and
diamond studs, mostly. Close with his two brothers one younger, one older.
His mother told them to stick together, called them The Three Musketeers.
These days, though, it’s hard to get a sense of any of that. Pedro L. Cuevas,
16, is a blank slate. Paralyzed. Mute. In a wheelchair. His arms curl up
to his chest, fingers balled into his palms. Legs are skinny from fatigue,
feet turned in. Head cocked permanently to the right, mouth slack-jawed.
Pedro’s condition is the result of viral encephalitis, a virus-related brain
inflammation that came on in November after an appendectomy at a Puerto
Rican hospital. Sometimes, though, he follows his family members with his
eyes. He grunts. He moves his right hand a little bit and fidgets his feet.
All those things are an improvement. He didn’t used to do them. That gives
his family hope.
“On the outside, those probably seem like little things,” said his mother,
Nancy Matos, said as she tended to her son at a three-decker in Worcester’s
Green Hill Park neighborhood. “But it’s a lot for us.” And, they believe,
those improvements will continue. “He could come back to us or he could
stay like this.”
Last November, Pedro experienced abdominal pains. Complications arose after
his operation: rashes, migraines, a 104-degree fever, memory loss and non-sensical
mutterings. Then, a 23-day coma. When he woke up, he was not speaking and
not moving.
In April, his family flew him to the continental United States in pursuit
of more advanced medical treatment. Pedro has regular physical therapy and
has to be cared for as if he were an infant. Ms. Matos bathes him, feeds
him pureed food through a tube and shifts him from the bed to the wheelchair
to the sofa and back again. “I do everything for him,” she said. “It has
changed my life completely.”
Pedro’s siblings and longtime girlfriend, 21-year-old Darcy Pacheco, have
been similarly stunned. “It’s been hard seeing my brother like this,” said
Miguel Cuevas, 15, Pedro’s younger brother. Ms. Pacheco, meanwhile, has
to raise her baby without a father. The young woman said she loves Pedro
and would like to marry him someday. “I’m going to be there for him,” she
said as the curly-haired infant wriggled in her arms.
Nearby, Ms. Matos motioned subtly to Pedro’s
brothers. Without speaking, they lifted his stiff body off the couch and
seated him in his wheelchair. “We’re willing to do whatever it takes,”
his mother explained as she adjusted his feet in the chair’s stirrups
and straightened his T-shirt and jeans. “We’re up for anything.” She turned
to Pedro, leaning close to her son’s narrow face. “Right?” He swallowed,
moved his mouth and followed her eyes with his. She gave him a wan smile.
By Taryn Plumb TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Thought I could share my story with others if could help or need to contact
me please Email me (below).
Pedro
Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Posted: Feb. 3, 2007
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