Boy Whose Parents Feared Deportation Had Leukemia : Health care: Medical officials say it is unclear whether earlier treatment could have saved Julio Cano. His death ignites further debate about Prop. 187’s effects.

Julio Cano, the 12-year-old boy whose parents said they delayed seeking medical treatment because they were afraid of being deported, had acute leukemia, Orange County coroner’s officials revealed Wednesday.

Law enforcement sources working on the case said preliminary tests indicated that his body, in a weakened state because of the leukemia, may have been wracked with a bacterial infection that led to heart failure Saturday.

Coroner’s officials are awaiting the results of further tests before issuing an official cause of death.

Although it remained unclear whether the youngster could have been saved by earlier medical intervention, his death unleashed new political charges as those on both sides of the Proposition 187 debate reopened pre-election wounds.

Julio’s parents, illegal immigrants from Mexico, say they were afraid to take the Sycamore Junior High School student to the hospital because they feared being asked about their immigration status.

If Proposition 187, which faces multiple court challenges, takes effect, it would bar illegal immigrants from receiving publicly funded education, non-emergency health care and most other public services. It also would require teachers and health care workers to report suspected illegal immigrants.

While Proposition 187 proponents suggested Wednesday that Julio’s case was being exploited for political purposes, the account of events leading up to the boy’s death highlights the difficulty faced by parents, particularly illegal immigrants and the poor, in deciding when to take a child to the hospital.

Julio went to school Nov. 15, but early in the day complained of feeling ill and had to go home.

“He went to a health clerk (at the school) twice, but he had no fever at all,” said Pat Savage, the school principal. “He would not tell anybody what was wrong because he knew that his parents didn’t have the money to take him to the doctor.”

Julio’s father said he and his wife considered taking their son to a hospital, but had been denied non-emergency care before and believed that with the passage of Proposition 187 they might be reported to authorities as illegal immigrants. The couple were unaware that a temporary restraining order has blocked implementation of most provisions of Proposition 187.

Julio’s father said he waited until Friday to take his son to the doctor because that is payday at the factory where he works. When he got the $60 he needed, he took the day off work.

Because they have no car, the family walked to the Family Medical Clinic at 4 p.m. Friday. The tiny clinic is only a block from the family’s apartment and Julio’s mother said she had gone there once before for a pregnancy test.

On Tuesday, physician N. Radd Radparvar said he treated the boy for constipation and rectal pain.

A general practitioner, Radparvar said he administered a “small enema” and gave the boy an antibiotic--Cephalexin--and vitamins. He said he instructed the family to “rush” the youngster to an emergency room if his condition did not improve.

Asked to elaborate Wednesday, Radparvar said he took a urine sample, which contained leukocytes and blood, signs that “there is something wrong, possibly a kidney infection.” Leukocytes are the white cells in blood, lymph and tissue that help the body fight infection.

Radparvar said he did not prescribe the medication, but gave it to the family because he knew they had little money.

“We did our best,” he said. “I am proud of myself. They have more than $30 in vitamins and antibiotics because I knew that the baby was really weak.

“What else could I do? We did an enema. . . . When he left I asked him, ‘How do you feel?’ He left in better condition. What do you want?

“The mother and father, they were grateful,” Radparvar said.

Julio’s father said Wednesday the doctor never told him to monitor his son’s condition and never mentioned taking him to a hospital.

After the parents brought the boy home Friday and gave him an antibiotic, the father said, Julio was “up all night going to the bathroom.”

“When I was going to work at 5 a.m. on Saturday, he had just come out of the bathroom. I asked him, ‘How do you feel?’ and he said he felt well,” the father said. “So I went to work.”

He phoned home during a work break at 8:30 a.m. and his wife told him that their son’s condition had worsened, said the father, who asked that his name not be used because of his immigration status.

The mother left the house shortly thereafter to get the boy a drink from a store. When she returned, he could not speak.

“His jaw was very tight. He couldn’t open his mouth,” she said.

The mother contacted a neighbor, who promptly called 911.

When firefighters arrived at the home shortly after 9 a.m., Joe Gutierrez, an Anaheim Fire Department captain and paramedic, said Julio was not breathing and his heart had ceased beating.

After paramedics attempted unsuccessfully to revive him, the youngster was taken to Anaheim Memorial Hospital, where further attempts at resuscitation continued until roughly 10 a.m., Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said he learned from a friend of the family at the hospital that Julio’s father was behind on rent payments and had been working weekends to make ends meet.

Gutierrez said he sensed that the father was blaming himself. “He shared with me that his son had gotten sick on Tuesday and (the family) did not want to take him to a clinic for fear of 187. . . . He waited until Friday to take him to the doctor.

“I said, ‘I think you and your wife did everything you could.’ ”

Even before the passage of Proposition 187, the parents were unsure where to seek medical care, they said. Julio and the couple’s other two eldest children carried Medi-Cal cards covering only emergency and pregnancy-related services.

The mother and father said Tuesday that a daughter had been denied care at a Garden Grove hospital once because her condition was not deemed an emergency, and the mother said she went to UC Irvine Medical Center seeking a free pregnancy test once and was denied.

In the aftermath of Julio’s death, Los Amigos of Orange County, a Latino activist group, Wednesday urged Latinos statewide to boycott work, school and merchants Dec. 12 in protest of Proposition 187’s passage.

At a meeting Wednesday, members of Los Amigos clasped hands and bowed their heads in remembrance of Julio.

“We want to convey to the family that has lost this little boy that there are many people who care,” said Galal Kernahan, who led a prayer. “And we ask help for us to be open and appreciative of the differences of others.”

Amin David, leader of Los Amigos , said a diagnosis of acute leukemia possibly could have been made if the family had sought medical care earlier.

“Could somebody have diagnosed that, is a question that I ask,” he said. “We think that hospital tests would have brought it out.”

Experts in childhood leukemia offered mixed views on whether the youngster could have been saved.

Dr. Alexis Thompson, an assistant professor in pediatric hematology-oncology at the UCLA School of Medicine, said it would depend on what type of acute leukemia the child had.

She said a child with an aggressive infection could be overwhelmed by it before adequate chemotherapy could be administered.

Dr. Stuart Siegel, head of the division of hematology-oncology at Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles, said that even if the disease is diagnosed late, there often is a “significant chance” of successful treatment.

A family friend expressed disbelief at Julio’s diagnosis, saying the family had no clue that the boy had a terminal illness. “The boy looked healthy,” said Belinda Castro Palomino, a church member who was acting as the family’s spokeswoman.

Proposition 187 proponents denounced efforts to link the ballot measure to the boy’s death. They criticized Latino activists for using a tragic situation for political ends.

“Of course, we are sad for the family,” said Barbara Coe, a founding member of the Proposition 187 movement. “But the anti-187 people will do whatever is necessary to get this measure defeated.

“It’s incredibly deceitful.”

Ron Prince, who headed the pro-187 “Save Our State” campaign, said he did not want to comment about the parents in the Cano case specifically, since all the details were not available. But he added that, in general, any responsibility for illness of children lies with their parents and with the foes of the measure.

“The parents are endangering the children by bringing them here illegally,” Prince said. “That’s the primary responsibility of the parent--they are not absolved of their parental responsibility simply because of their other illegal acts.”

Addressing the subject during a national television interview, Gov. Pete Wilson brushed aside the Orange County case and said the ballot measure will ensure more medical services for legal residents of California.

“We will get all kinds of stories of that sort, I suppose,” said Wilson, in reply to a question posed on “Good Morning America.”

“But what we’re also hearing from emergency room physicians is that some felt that because of the tremendous burden placed upon them by illegal immigrants able to claim under the law certain emergency care, that they were compelled to cut back on services to everyone.

“You have to say we are having to put our own needs first,” Wilson continued, “ . . . when you cannot provide services, when you’re shortchanging the education of legal residents, the health care of legal residents, because the federal government has failed to do its job and then has compounded that failure by sticking the states with the cost.”

Julio’s parents moved to Orange County from Acapulco four years ago. Julio and the couple’s other older children, ages 13 and 11, were born in Mexico and joined their parents here only three years ago. They are all undocumented, the father said.

The couple’s youngest children, ages 1 month and 1 year, were born in the United States.

As Julio’s father this week flipped through a photo album that contained awards from teachers commending his son’s work, he said, “Julio was the brightest one of the whole house. He spoke the best English. He was very dedicated to his studies. He wanted a degree so he could be a lawyer.”

Times staff writers Paul Feldman, Martin Miller and Julie Marquis contributed to this report.

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