Mother thanks God for girl’s heart surgery

Thursday, February 23, 2012

HERS is a story of an unwavering faith in God and the unconditional love of parents.

Catalina Boybanting, 40, did not leave Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) since her daughter, 13-year-old Crystabel, underwent a successful open-heart surgery last Tuesday.

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She said she had to pray nonstop so her daughter will make it through the procedure, the first in a government-run hospital in Central Visayas. She also had to be on call all the time, in case her daughter needed anything.

Catalina is grateful to God and the people behind the free operation for Crystabel, saying their family cannot afford an open-heart surgery, which usually costs at least P100,000 in government hospitals and at least P500,000 in private hospitals.

Yesterday morning, Catalina said she was informed by doctors that Crystabel will be transferred from the intensive care unit to the patient’s ward.

They were told, however, that Crystabel still could not receive visitors, not even family members, to avoid any infection.

Since birth, Crystabel has suffered from atrial septal defect, a congenital heart disease in which a wall that separates the upper heart chamber does not completely close.

Since he still could not visit his daughter, Saul, 35, decided to go home to Barangay Jaguimit in Naga City to find out if he can work as part-time driver so they will have money for food and other needs while Crystabel is in the hospital.

Saul works as a part-time driver of a contractor of Apo Cement Corp.

“Mangita pa man gud mi ug para pagkaon kada adlaw, wala gani mi kaugalingon nga balay (We have to find ways to have food every day. We don’t even have our own house),” Catalina said.

The Boytanting family lives in a house owned by Bernabe Ayuman, father of Ramil Ayuman, former ABS-CBN reporter and now Apas, Cebu City barangay captain.

Crystabel is a first year high school student in Jaguimit National High School. She dreams of becoming a teacher so she could help educate people and at the same time support her family.

Catalina said this early, Crystabel is already thinking about how she can help improve her family’s living condition, considering there are times when food is scarce at home.

“Tungod sa kalisod, kasagaran utan ra gyud ang among sud-an ug panagsa ra ang isda ug karne kon dunay sobra (Life is so difficult that most of the time, we only have vegetable soup. We can buy fish and meat only when we have extra money),” she added.

Catalina said their two other children, Jeziebel, 10, and Tin, 8, are left in the temporary care of their grandparents while they are studying in Jaguimit Elementary School.

Naga City Mayor Valdemar Chiong said he is willing to give cash assistance to the Boybanting family. “They are welcome in my office,” he said.