The medical journey of Jessica Mel, a cancer survivor facing severe post-treatment complications, highlights the challenges patients can encounter navigating healthcare systems and securing adequate support. Despite undergoing 22 surgeries and experiencing total dependence, the Spanish Social Security system has denied her full disability benefits, leaving her to survive on a monthly pension of just €639 (approximately $685 USD).
Jessica Mel, a 46-year-old resident of Cadiz, Spain, is enduring a harrowing ordeal following a breast cancer diagnosis in 2020. What began as a path toward recovery transformed into a cycle of 22 surgical interventions and complications that, she says, have left her feeling “buried alive.” For nearly two decades prior to her diagnosis, Mel worked as a self-employed hairdresser.
Mel’s medical experience has been marked by a series of physical traumas. Following a double mastectomy, she experienced multiple rejections of breast prostheses and expanders due to recurrent infections. Surgeons ultimately reconstructed her chest using tissue from her back, a procedure that resulted in a torn supraspinatus muscle and paralysis of her right arm. Her condition further deteriorated in May 2023 during a gynecological operation to remove her uterus and ovaries. According to a report by Telecinco , Mel alleges that the surgery caused perforations of her bladder and vagina, as well as damage to the pudendal nerve. These injuries have left her completely dependent, suffering from permanent urinary incontinence and chronic neuropathic pain radiating from her kidneys to her legs.
Beyond the physical suffering, Mel faces what she describes as a humiliating administrative battle. The Spanish Institute of Social Security has denied her claim for total and permanent disability, recognizing only the sequelae in her left breast and awarding her a monthly pension of €639. This amount is insufficient to cover her mortgage payments, loans, and substantial medical expenses, including the cost of diapers and long-term antibiotic treatments, for which she now pays 10% out-of-pocket. For a woman who contributed to the system for nearly two decades, this decision feels like a profound injustice, particularly given expert reports documenting her urological and neuropathic disorders.
Unable to use her arms, Mel relies on her children for daily care. Her 14-year-old son assists with changing her diapers, while her daughter helps with bathing and hair care. Despite being officially recognized as a dependent person, the promised in-home assistance, scheduled to begin in mid-February, has not materialized, leaving her alone to manage her drainage tubes after her latest surgery. Desperate, she has appealed to Andalusian political leaders and the Spanish Social Security mediator, but a court hearing is not scheduled until June 2027 – a date that feels impossibly distant for someone facing a daily struggle for basic care. Mel emphasizes that she is not seeking charity, but rather recognition from a system she has supported throughout her life, so she can afford both treatment and care for her children.
