International
The mother who decided to walk 1,300 kilometers in Chile to get an expensive medicine and save her son from a serious illness
Walking the more than 1,300 kilometers that separate the commune of Ancud in Chiloé from the Palacio de la Moneda in Santiago in Chile may seem like a chimera to many.
Not so for the Chilean Camila Gómez, a mother who completes this challenge with the goal of raising 3.5 billion pesos (US$3.7 million) to buy a vital medicine for her five-year-old son and make visible the cause of patients with rare diseases in Chile.
Time is pressing. His son, Tomás Ross, suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a severe ailment that worsens quickly. If you do not receive the drug as soon as possible, it will be difficult to stop the disease.
“It is a very expensive medicine and a disease that in Chile has no opportunities, but there are opportunities abroad,” Gómez tells BBC Mundo.
Thousands of Chileans turned to Gómez’s case, whose determination went viral in the country.
The mother left Ancud on April 28 with Marcos Reyes, president of the Duchenne Families corporation in Chile, who also has two teenage children with the disease.
It was precisely Reyes who suggested the idea of the walk to Gómez.
“We walk for all the children and families who suffer from the disease. Time is running out,” Gómez said in an interview with the 24-hour national news.
The goal, in addition to raising funds and making their causes visible, is to get Chilean President Gabriel Boric to “bring a bill to Congress” that allows to improve the coverage of rare diseases in the country, as Reyes explains to BBC Mundo.
“He was born healthy, without any problem or complication, until at the age of four we realized that he had difficulty climbing stairs and performing some types of physical activity,” Gómez said on social networks.
“Until that moment there was no cure, but for a few months we have had a hope; in the United States the first drug was approved whose objective is to stop the progression of the disease,” Gómez continued.
This drug is marketed as elevidys and is administered intravenously in patients who, like Ross, are between four and five years old.
There are several types of muscular dystrophy, although Duchenne is the most common form and also one of the most severe.
The disease is unleashed due to a defective gene that results in the absence of dystrophin, a protein that helps keep the body’s cells intact.
Patients can develop problems when walking and running, fatigue, learning difficulties and cardiac and respiratory deficiencies due to the weakening of vital muscles in these functions.
The British national health services indicate that it normally affects young children and that people with this ailment usually live until they are 20 or 30 years old.
Gómez talks to BBC Mundo this Sunday, May 12, in “a little pause, while eating a little.”
It has already been more than two weeks of a journey that has about half left.
At the time of speaking, he is at the Púa toll booth, in the Araucanía Region, still more than 600 kilometers from the capital.
“This journey is crazy, but we think it’s turning out more than imagined,” says Gómez.
The first week was hard, but the mother says that with the passing of the days everything is getting easier.
“It’s impressive how the body adapts to the rhythm and it’s not so terrible anymore,” he says.
He is also helped by the emotional impulse he received by surprise last Friday, May 10 on the occasion of Mother’s Day.
Her son Tomás found her in the city of Temuco, accompanied by her father Alex Ross, to give her a hug, a bouquet of flowers and a recharge of encouragement.
“The boy knows that his mother gathers talks to find him a remedy, but he was only there for a while and turned to Chiloé. Because of the disease he has, he shouldn’t be cold,” Alex Ross tells BBC Mundo.
By May 10, the family had managed to raise more than half of the funds.
Gómez documents his tour on his social media accounts, where he receives thousands of messages of support, hundreds of thousands of views in his videos, the attention of the press and the company of other walkers who join in some sections of his tour.
“This has grown so much that I must help with the whole logistical issue: I look for accommodation, food, I assist them on the route with dry clothes, I look for podiatrists, kinesiologists and medicines,” says Alex Ross.
Camila Gómez and Marcos Reyes expect to arrive in La Moneda at the end of May, depending on the weather conditions.
A long way to make its causes visible that goes beyond the more than 1,300 kilometers that they will have traveled at the end of their journey.
International
Argentina’s Milei opens dialogue with parties to push “Second-Generation Reforms”
Empowered by his midterm election victory, Argentine President Javier Milei is relaunching his administration and opening dialogue with other political forces, focusing on three major reforms: tax, labor, and pension systems, which form the core of his ultra-liberal agenda.
The government approached the legislative elections amid financial turbulence, which eased following Milei’s triumph. It now faces the challenge of reviving a stagnant economy while consolidating its political project.
The first step will be negotiating the country’s first budget law in two years, with the vote likely postponed until December, when the government expects to have more favorable numbers in Congress.
Milei’s party will have an expanded bloc, but it will not gain full control of the legislature. Preliminary results indicate that, starting December 10, the administration will hold around 100 of 257 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 19 of 72 seats in the Senate.
To advance his so-called “second-generation reforms” in 2026, Milei has called for dialogue with provincial governors and other political parties.
International
Melissa leaves path of destruction in Caribbean, 735,000 evacuated in Cuba
Hurricane Melissa caused significant damage and widespread flooding in Cuba on Wednesday (October 29, 2025), following its devastating passage through Jamaica as the strongest storm to make landfall in the island in 90 years.
After striking Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane with violent winds and torrential rains, the Jamaican government declared the country a disaster zone. In Haiti, the cyclone has already caused 20 fatalities, although authorities expect the number to rise due to an unknown number of missing persons.
In Jamaica, there were three deaths, the same number reported in Panama, and one death in the Dominican Republic.
Melissa then made landfall in eastern Cuba with slightly reduced strength and maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h. “It has been a very difficult night. Significant damage has occurred, and Hurricane Melissa is still over Cuban territory,” said President Miguel Díaz-Canel in his first assessment of the situation.
In Santiago de Cuba, the second-largest city in the eastern region, the storm flooded homes and streets and knocked down trees, utility poles, and power lines. Cuban authorities reported that around 735,000 people were evacuated, particularly in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, and Guantánamo.
International
Jamaica faces widespread destruction as hurricane Melissa hits the island
Jamaican authorities reported on Tuesday that Hurricane Melissa, which weakened to a Category 4 storm just hours after making landfall in Jamaica, caused damage to six hospitals and left roads flooded, along with downed power lines and fallen trees, according to preliminary data.
Videos shared by local media and social media users show strong gusts of wind impacting Kingston in the southeast and southern municipalities of the island, causing power outages and damaging the roofs of several homes.
Flooded roads and damage to several medical institutions have also been reported. The Bustamante Children’s Hospital in Kingston experienced blocked access after a utility pole fell onto its premises. Part of the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital in Westmoreland also suffered severe damage when hurricane-force winds ripped off its roof.
Additionally, Health and Wellness Minister Christopher Tufton reported on Tuesday that four hospitals sustained “significant damage” due to Melissa. The affected medical facilities are Noel Holmes Hospital in Hanover, Black River Hospital in Saint Elizabeth, Cornwall Regional Hospital in Saint James, and Falmouth Hospital in Trelawny.
At Cornwall Regional Hospital, damage was limited to staff areas, which have since been repurposed for other uses. The Ministry stated that it is actively coordinating with the Southern Regional Health Authority and emergency services to stabilize hospital operations.
Argentina’s Milei opens dialogue with parties to push “Second-Generation Reforms”
Melissa leaves path of destruction in Caribbean, 735,000 evacuated in Cuba
Jamaica faces widespread destruction as hurricane Melissa hits the island
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