Santiago Silva, at the age of 12, spoke at the Assembly of the Republic after winning Burkitt's leukemia. He created a public petition to discuss the creation of a pediatric intensive care unit at the Porto IPO. “I’m not a doctor. I am not an expert in hospitals,” he said.
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22/10/2026
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News to Minutes
Santiago told us about the difficulties she experienced, stressing that she suffered cardiac tamponade – which caused her to be referred from the IPO to the Hospital de São João: “I was in a coma for two days [...] For several hours, my father and mother didn't know exactly what was happening to me. They only knew that something very serious had happened. And they waited. Waiting for news. Waiting for someone to tell them how I was. Waiting without knowing if everything would be all right”.
Then, “when everything began to stabilize and I could better understand what had happened,” some questions began to hover in Santiago’s mind. “I thought I had help. I thought about the professionals who were with me and did everything they could. I thought about my family. And I thought I was lucky”.
“ But there was a question in my head that never disappeared. What if it happens to another child? What if he's very sick? What if, at that moment, there isn't an opening? What if I have to go far?”, vincated, quoted by the Journal of News.
And that's how you created the public petition. “I am 12 years old. I'm not a doctor. I'm no hospital expert. And I don't want to come to the Assembly of the Republic and explain to doctors how they should organize pediatric intensive care. This is not my job,” he added to the deputies, adding that “when a child is very ill, it cannot be dependent on luck.”
“It cannot depend on whether or not a vacancy exists at that time. It can't depend on Monday or Sunday. It cannot depend on being in Porto, Lisbon or another city.”, stressed.
And it ended: “It was for this child that I began this petition. A child I'll probably never meet. I don't know your name. I don't know how old he'll be. I don't know when you'll need help. But I know she can exist. And if it ever happens, I'd like what we've done here to serve something“.
Look here in full the audience to the subscribers of the open letter - Public Commitment to Oncology, in which Santiago Silva spoke.