Path to freedom: From Cuban prison to NCH operating room

It’s rare that a serious heart condition is a blessing, but that was the case for a Naples man. The surgery he received at NCH saved his life in more ways than one.

Robert Perez and his wife Nancy Reyes’s path to Florida and freedom was long and complicated.

Born in Cuba, he came to the U.S. in 1989 and moved back to his homeland in 2015.

“I decided to go to Cuba and buy a house and a car, and that was illegal, being Cuban-American, so they got me there, and they put me in jail,” he told WINK News health and medical reporter Amy Oshier.

The charges that landed Perez in prison were money laundering and tax evasion. For those crimes, he was sentenced to 15 years. About seven years in, Perez started experiencing chest pain.

“They had no medicine. They got nothing, so the chest pain kept going and going,” Perez said.

Tests showed he needed major surgery to fix blockages in his heart—something the prison system in Cuba couldn’t provide.

His life was in the balance, but Perez found himself in no-man’s land, stuck between Cuban and U.S. policies.

He hoped the U.S. government would get him out of jail so that he could come back to the states for an operation.

“They agreed with the certificate, saying that I do need open heart surgery, but they wanted the medical institution in Cuba to write a letter saying that this kind of procedure can’t be done in Cuba,” he said

A spokesperson from the U.S. State Department sent WINK News an email stating that due to privacy concerns they “don’t discuss individual cases of U.S. citizens.”

Paperwork shows that after nine years in prison, Cuba’s Supreme Court granted Perez a conditional release allowing him to take a freedom flight to American for open heart surgery.

Five days after landing on U.S. soil, he went to the emergency room at NCH.

“His disease developed over a year and certainly got to a critical point,” said cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Robert Pascotto. “So critical that really, at any time, he could have had a pretty massive heart attack.”

He went on to say Perez’ case was not particularly complicated. It was a standard three-vessel bypass. While a triple bypass operation isn’t uncommon in this country, it is still complex.

“We get a vein from the leg artery, from the forearm and use an artery from the chest wall to do the bypasses,” said Dr. Pascotto, “and so the bypasses go around the blockages onto the heart and provide strong blood flow.”

Perez sailed through surgery at NCH, his newly repaired heart full of gratitude.

“He saved my life. He really saved my life,” said Perez about his surgeon.

“First of all, this is a very unique situation. And again, it’s just an honor to be able to take care of someone like him,” said Dr. Pascotto.

In his argument for the Cuban court system, attorneys for Perez cited language the Cuban government made to the United Nations, claiming that U.S. sanctions negatively impacted their ability to get medical supplies and ultimately provide care.

That public claim made the difference in getting him out of prison.