The race against time to save Óliver, a toddler with a brain tumor stranded in Mexico

Doctors have given a two-and-a-half-year-old Spanish boy with a brain tumor just 15 days to live if he does not receive an urgent operation, according to the child’s family. The boy, Óliver Moreno, lives with his family in Mexico, but his parents say that the operation that their son needs cannot be carried out successfully in that country. A Spanish businessman has donated €194,000 to fly Moreno to Spain, according to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

“It is a joy to see that there are still good people who have altruistically donated the money to rent the medicalized aircraft to bring Óliver to Spain,” the child’s uncle David Romero told Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE), in reference to the anonymous donor.

The family had planned to leave on Sunday night to arrive in Barcelona on Monday, but the flight plan was delayed. The airline offered an alternative route, and the toddler and his mother will now arrive in the Spanish city on Wednesday at noon, as confirmed by Romero. His father will fly to Spain on a commercial flight.

Moreno will be taken to Sant Joan de Déu Hospital in Barcelona, which is a leading pediatric hospital in Spain and Europe. A spokesperson from the hospital said doctors there will perform more tests on the child to confirm the diagnosis once he arrives from Mexico. “The prognosis will not be given until they see him, but they are more optimistic because the healthcare capacity of Sant Joan de Déu is superior to that of the Mexican health system,” said Romero.

The family is staying in a hotel in the Mexican city of Cancún while they wait to fly to Spain. “We don’t want to go to the ER and spend the night there with all our bags until they give Óliver a bed. For someone to tell me if Óliver’s life is at greater risk. They are playing with our son’s time,” the child’s father, Alejandro Moreno, said in a message on Sunday on social media.

Óliver Moreno was diagnosed with a grade four brain tumor on October 13, after showing symptoms of apathy and lack of appetite. After the diagnosis, the minor’s condition worsened, and he was treated for the first time in Mexico. But the family believes he has a better chance of survival in Spain.