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Monday, March 13, 2006
Ailing boy's mom shares fund with another patient
AN AILING toddler's dramatic step towards being cured for kidney ailment has boosted another indigent patient's effort to undergo treatment for cancer.
Ten-month-old Rheyvien Jave Villanueva was supposed to go under the knife last Tuesday to check deterioration of his kidneys. Doctors however canceled the procedure when a final pre-surgery test showed his condition had substantially improved - from severe to mild.
"I suppressed tears of joy when told my boy may no longer be operated on and instead be regularly monitored on the progress of his oral medication," the baby's mother, Emilia, said after their return in Baguio City Wednesday from the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) in Quezon City.
Immediately, the 35-year-old mother of four sought out Cynthia Miguel, a nursing graduate who is battling cancer of the cervix, to hand over P5,000 for her treatment.
"Cynthia needs it more than my baby does for now, as I heard her treatment session has been delayed for over a month due to fund lack," Emilia said. "I know those who contributed for my son's treatment will understand why I'm doing this," she added.
The amount was part of some P50,000 pooled over a month-long period by Samaritans from here and abroad, in response to her appeal for help in raising the costs of laboratory work-up, pediatric clearance and surgery.
Emilia wished she could have shared more, if not for the fact that the test also revealed the baby's kidneys have also been scarred, requiring continuous medication and monitoring.
Rheyvien, who will turn one-year-old on April 12, was diagnosed at the NKTI last December for vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), or the retrograde flow of urine from the bladder to the ureter and renal pelvis, causing kidney infection and eventual renal failure if untreated.
Tests at the NKTI last January 24 showed the VUR level at Grade IV on the left kidney and Grade II on the right. Doctors recommended ureteral re-implantation as soon as pediatric clearance was obtained.
Emilia said she was told the procedure would cost about P80,000, which was reduced to P30,000 after the institute's social services granted her application for charity.
Even then, the family was at a loss on how to raise the amount, prompting Emilia to knock on doors.
She and husband Reynaldo, a jeepney driver and sole breadwinner, have three elder children to feed and raise. The family used to live with Emelia's parents in Barangay Loakan-Maysay, Baguio but eventually moved to a rented house at the Green Water Village also in the city.
Last Sunday, the mother and child were back to the NKTI for another media check-up. Due to the boy's earlier condition, Mayor Braulio Yaranon dispatched a vehicle that transported the patient and his mother during three previous consultations.
Meanwhile, Miguel, 35, hopes to be admitted next week at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) for her three-day internal radiation (Brachytherapy) therapy. The treatment, which was supposed to have been done last January, is preparatory to hysterectomy or the removal of the uterus to prevent the spread of cancer cells.
Before she was diagnosed for the big C last September, Miguel worked as a caregiver and as nurse during the last four months of former Baguio journalist Noney Padilla-Marzan, who succumbed to breast cancer in May 2004.
As of Sunday, fund support for Miguel totaled P22,400, still short of the radiation therapy cost that the PGH estimated at P35,000.
A lady Samaritan who is also in the thick of her fight against breast cancer last month issued two checks of P5,000 each to start the fund campaign for Rheyvien and Miguel.
The latest contribution of US$200 for Miguel came from Mary Ann Dalde, a Filipino-woman expatriate in Flushing, New York.
People who would like to reach out to Miguel may send their support through RCBC Session Road, Baguio account number 1-326-78046-0, which bank vice president Rolly de Guzman opened in Miguel's name. (RD)
(March 13, 2006 issue)
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