My name is Katia Leoniuk. I have a very dear friend called Fernanda Cavaleiro, who has terminal cancer. She is at the Westminster Hospital and wants to go back to her home country – Portugal - to spend her final days. She needs to be transported by ambulance (the drivers are also paramedics), attached to a permanent supply of oxygen.
I have known Fernanda for about 27 years back when we worked together at the Brazilian Embassy as secretaries to the Brazilian Air and Army Attachés, respectively.
We had a very special bond as were born in the same year, fell pregnant around the same time and had our children born only two days apart. She was happy to be a mum for the second time but I noticed that there was something wrong going on in her life. Slowly Fernanda started to open up and told me that she was married to a man who was abusing her in every single sense: emotionally, physically, sexually and financially (she was the breadwinner of the house). He also managed to convert her to his religion and she started to wear the Hijab.
One day, she phoned me terrified after he punched and smashed in rage a piece of furniture in front of her and the two little sons. I decided to take action. My sister and I offered to help her escape from her husband by paying their tickets to Sao Paulo-Brazil to live in my parents’ house, where they have an annex. She didn't accept it, afraid in taking such a major decision. Eventually her husband made her leave the Embassy and moved the family to Libya. There, the situation worsened to a point that she ran back to Europe with her youngest child.
About a year ago she was diagnosed with ovary cancer that spread to other organs, including the lungs. She is now dependent on an oxygen tank to continue breathing. This is one of the reasons why she can’t travel by plane.