Saturday, May 03, 2008 Doctors of Hope By Ana Felicia Dulay
A GROUP of doctors from the Davao Medical Center (DMC) has made a quest to treat indigent children with cancer.
Doctors Jeannie Ong, Grace Peñaranda and Mae Dolendo, along with two other orthopaedic/pediatric surgeons, have started the team concept of treating cancer.
Since its inception, the survival rate for indigent children with cancer has increased between 10 to 20 percent.
Dr. Jeannie Ong, a pediatrician/hematologist/oncologist of the DMC, says indigent cancer patients have no hope of survival if they shellout their money.
"They come from average income families and cannot afford this kind of chronic illness," she said in a recent interview. "Our team helps each other in treating them since we started the House of Hope in 2007."
House of Hope is a transient home, a halfway house for patients undergoing chemotherapy. Most of the beneficiaries cannot afford the fare and the board and lodging entail during treatment since most live far from the hospital.
Dr. Ong, who migrated to Davao City in 1997, found out that there were no doctors taking care of indigent cancer patients.
"We want to give them hope despite their terminal illness," she said.
Her husband, a pathologist at the Davao Blood Center has given up a chance to migrate to the United States of America by surrendering his immigration papers to the US Embassy in Manila.
"I know we will not be fulfilled treating foreigners knowing some of my countrymen cannot get treatment for to lack of money," Dr. Ong said.
Dr. Ong explained that more than 50 percent of patients diagnosed with cancer have chronic blood ailments.
"Sa bata, mas madami ang chronic blood disorder. Upon diagnosis, we initiate treatment like chemotherapy," she said. This is where the role of a hematologist and oncologist come in when treating cancer patients who are children.
"It is difficult to generalize but good risk is between two to ten years old, where they have at least 70 percent survival rate," she said.
Dr. Mae Dolendo Acting Chief of Clinics at the DMC, on the other hand, is a pediatrician who gave up a lucrative medical practice in Singapore to serve her countrymen. She also left her husband and two children and decided to set base here in Davao City.
"The team concept of treating cancer patients came up in 2003 after I came back from Singapore. There has been a definite improvement in terms of survival rate for the past three years," she said. "Noon, before the team concept, isa lang ang survivor (Before the team concept there was only one survivor). Now, after the team concept, we graduated about 15 patients."
Graduating patients mean patients who have completed the treatment and survived.
Dr. Dolendo says for her this goes beyond job satisfaction.
"...It gives a different meaning to my job. We are providing them a chance to survive," she said referring to indigent children with cancer.
The team is affiliated with St. Jude International Outreach Program of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital based in Memphis, Tennessee, which partners with countries worldwide.
An average of 14 medical professionals from across the globe visit St. Jude sponsored by the outreach program to acquire new skills to take back to home.
Over the past three decades, the outreach program has improved therapy and increased survival rates for children with cancer.
Dr. Grace Pecson is a pediatric-hematologist and has been with the DMC since 2001.
Along with the two other doctors, she handles chemotherapy treatment, physical examination and read bone marrow slides of children with cancer.
"We usually take time out to explain the chances of being cured and expectations to the parents," she said. "It is hard to loose a child especially after you see them get better. Sometimes we loose them due to failure of compliance or financial reasons. They come back worse and it is too late. We explain the consequences of stopping the treatment but some are really poor and cannot afford it," she said.
Dr. Pecson says like leukemia, the treatment lasts for years and follow-up treatment is done every week.
"At the end of the three years, the treatment for a standard good risk patient will cost about P500,000 and this excludes transfusion," she said.
However, with the present support of non-government organizations (NGOs) plus the free services of the Doctors of Hope team, cancer victims have more chances of survival.
"Even before the treatment, we are honest of what the chances for survival are," she said. "We have prognostic characteristics like tolerance to the drug. Some develop infections because they are malnourished to begin with and cannot tolerate the drug."
Dr. Pecson also admits there are some cancer patients who opt for alternative treatment.
"There are folk beliefs and some poor patients choose the alternative medicines and abandon treatment altogether," she said.
Dr. Pecson says that along with the medical team, the psychosocial support from the paramedical team increases chances for survival.
"All sectors, from the local government, NGO, charity foundations and social workers must work hand in hand in giving support to indigent children with cancer. We can not just do this on our own," she said.
Treating indigent children with cancer requires a team of doctors and only the interdisciplinary approach which also includes the psychological aspect can greatly help increase their chances for survival.
