In the fall of 1998, Jorge Cueto, then a 22-year-old Laurentian University student, was brutally beaten after trying to stop a couple of thugs who had broken into a friend's car.
It was an event that was to change the course of his life, but, as his sister Mercedes Cueto told Sudbury.com, it didn’t stop him from doing the things he wanted to do.
The Sudbury photojournalist and artist died suddenly Nov. 13 at the age of 48,
Back to that terrible day in 1998. Following the assault, Cueto was in a coma for six weeks, having suffered a head injury and severe brain swelling.
“I had no broken bones, but a broken soul,” he told journalist Vicki Gilhula in 2012 in an article published in the now-defunct Sudbury Living Magazine.
He spent eight months in hospital recuperating. Shortly after he left the hospital, his father Servando died.
“It was pure hell, I’ll tell you that,” said Mercedes, adding that her brother “wasn’t supposed to live.”
Left with brain damage, memory problems and balance issues, he was told he should use a wheelchair, but Cueto was having none of that — he learned to walk again, albeit sometimes with a cane. He even learned to ride a bicycle again.
“He pushed himself,” Mercedes said. “He would never talk about it because he wanted to be normal, if that makes any sense.”
Cueto went back to Laurentian in 2000 to finish his degree, which he did in 2005, and after graduation, he went to Spain by himself for two or three months. The experience in his father's native country helped him to regain his confidence.
He then enrolled in the photojournalism course at Loyalist College, and worked as a freelance photojournalist with his own distinctive style, with publications including the Toronto Star sometimes calling him if they needed a photo taken here in Sudbury.
A sampling of his work includes a book of photographs produced with members of the Independent Motorcycle Corporation, a 2014 project called “I Will Make You Into Art” and a 2023 exhibit with GNO called “Journeylysm,” in which he explored downtown Sudbury through interviews and photography.
His sister, also an artist, said she’s been going through his old projects, and she’d even forgotten some of the things Cueto has done over the years.
Cueto’s obituary describes him as “kindness incarnate” whose “laughter was beyond anything.”
Mercedes said her brother was kind, funny, friendly and super curious. “Family was important to him,” she said.
“Jorge did a lot,” Cueto said.” He kept pushing forward, trying, wanting to do things. Like my mom says, he loved life, he wanted to talk to people, see things, he was curious about stuff.”
His obituary also mentions Cueto’s extraordinarily long eyelashes, which were the “envy of the world.”
“It's unfortunate, but I don't have those eyelashes,” Mercedes said. “People would always comment on his eyelashes.”
With an outpouring from the local arts community, Mercedes said she hasn’t yet been able to respond to everyone who has reached out after her brother’s death. “They’re shocked,” she said.
After his assault and resulting brain damage, Cueto lived with epilepsy and grand mal seizures, Mercedes explains. The seizures were controlled with medication, until they weren’t anymore.
After a recent seizure, he had been hospitalized, and it was learned that he had an infection. One week later, he passed away, although the exact cause of his death is not currently known.
Cueto’s obituary said he was the son of the late Servando and Yolanda (née Herrera) Cueto. He was the dear brother of Mercedes and special friend of Kasia.
A visitation was to take place today, Monday, Nov. 18. A chapel service will take place Tuesday, Nov. 19 at noon.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.