TRYING to save a toddler who was suffering from a congenital heart defect (CHD) had almost cost the friendship of two businessmen who had biked close to 100 kilometers in uncertain terrains and under a scorching sun to accomplish their mission.
The mission: Persuade Cindy Dolera to have her then two-year-old son Kenneth Lance get treatment and undergo surgery, free of cost, under the Gift of Life program of the Rotary Club of Cebu (RCC). Dolera had been resigned to the reality that Lance, who was breathing hard, could die anytime.
The family did not have the resources to get treatment for the boy. But letting Lance’s frail and tiny body go under the knife was unthinkable and scary for Dolera. The thought of contracting the coronavirus disease (Cebu still had a high incidence of Covid-19 cases in 2021) through exposure to other people also scared her.
The two riders Bernard Vonn Sia, 50, and Jacob Ong, 49, recalled their arduous ride on May 1, 2021 to the remote mountain of Sitio Camansi, Barangay Baring, Carmen town in Cebu where the Doleras live, and back to Mandaue City where they took off. When they set off at 5:30 a.m. in their gravel bikes, they were in good spirits. Sia had strapped to his bike a bag of formula milk and goodies for the Dolera family.
The way to the Dolera address is narrow, unpaved, unlit. It is 15 kilometers from the Carmen national highway, as indicated in the global positioning system (GPS) gadgets of Sia and Ong.
The GPS can pin the exact location and help in the navigation but it overlooks the environment or condition of the road leading to the destination. Since it relies on satellites for navigation, GPS does not work in areas not reached or covered by satellite signals.
Land of the lost
Technology does not always favor even seasoned cyclists like Sia and Ong. And so, many times they lost their way as they navigated one-meter-wide pathways of earth, grass and stones, going there and coming back. Sometimes they could not find any pathway so they relied on their navigational skills and just cut through grass and trees and open spaces. It was an adventure until the sun came up and blazed up.
They made it to Purok Camansi by midmorning. It was already hot.
Dolera was surprised to see Sia and Ong visiting her hut.
It took Sia and Ong’s persuasive powers to make Dolera understand that she need not wallow in hopelessness over her son’s condition because the RCC was there to help extend the life of Lance beyond two years.
CHD is treatable
CHD is deadly but treatable. The sooner the child with CHD gets treated, the chances of living longer are better. This was what Rotarians Sia and Ong emphasized to Dolera during their visit.
Children with CHD like Lance have trouble breathing and easily get tired. Because they were born with a heart that had not developed during pregnancy, they have poor blood flow. They do not have enough oxygen in their blood, causing their lips, fingertips and skin to turn blue. They are the “blue babies.”
Gift of Life
The RCC embarked on the Gift of Life program in 2012 together with the Gift of Life International, giving children with CHD who come from indigent families a second lease on life by funding their heart surgeries. One hundred “heart warriors,” as the children who had undergone treatment and now carry on with their young lives in boundless energy, have benefited from the program.
Dolera had heard about the Gift of Life program from her friend Marilyn Layson of Let It Echo, an RCC partner. Lance qualified for the program, but Dolera had doubts of his surviving the operation.
She had resigned Lance’s fate to God. “Naghuwat na lang ko nga kuhaon si Lance sa Ginoo (I was just waiting for God to take Lance from us),” the 33-year-old mother of three said in an interview on Wednesday, April 12, 2023.
She had Lance with her during the interview. Lance was among those RCC presented during a press conference to announce the Citrineland Run for Gift of Life scheduled on May 7.
Dolera has two other children below 13 years old. Her husband works in a furniture company abroad, but his income could not suffice to sustain the needs of the family.
Mission accomplished
The visit of Sia and Ong on May 1, 2021 proved to be a turning point in the young life of Lance and the entire Dolera family. The two Rotarians had biked a total of 99.59 kilometers with scarce provision and under harsh conditions just so they could offer him free pediatric cardiac surgery under the Gift of Life program.
On April 13, 2022, Lance underwent cardiac surgery at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City. Upon waking up post-op, Lance was breathing regularly and could move about like any normal three-year-old. Dolera could only cry seeing her son in his new state.
Before and after the surgery, Sia supplied Lance with formula milk, vitamins and medicines.
Sia and Ong had accomplished their mission.
Friendship in peril
Looking back at their May 1, 2021 ride, the two Rotarians exclaimed, “Grabe tu uy!” This Cebuano expression has several nuances depending on context. In their case, it meant that they had done what they had to do under horrible conditions.
Sia and Ong, who are both triathletes and who run their own businesses, met in the RCC and became friends. Ong was the club president when they set out for that epic ride to Purok Camansi.
Their friendship was put in peril during their ride back. It was nearing noon when they left the Doleras’ place. They had thought they would be back in the city by noon.
By noon, they were still cycling around God knew where. They lost their way several times. There were road forks that neither led to the municipal roads nor national highway. Sometimes there were no roads at all. There was no cover from the sun and the heat was scorching.
At one point, Ong had to stop and crouch under a thin shade from a shrub. Sia, who was the lead, looked back to check on his fellow rider. Ong was not behind him.
He went back and found Ong seeking a minimalist cover. Ong was not speaking to him anymore. Sia had told him he had found a shortcut but they were going nowhere. They were hungry and thirsty. They had not seen sari-sari stores along the way.
But they were endurance athletes; they had grit and focus. They were Rotarians; they were doing this for service. They were bosses at work; they would find solutions.
And they had accomplished their mission. They were going to find their way out.
They did. By the time they reached Mandaue City, it was almost 5 p.m. Ong was speaking to Sia again.
“We labored on Labor Day,” Sia said during the April 12 interview with Ong. May 1 is Labor Day, a non-working holiday in the Philippines.
Run, save a life
The Dolera case is an example of how far the Rotary Club of Cebu would go to save the life of a child with CHD. Congenital heart defect can be fixed with surgery. The surgery is free under the Gift of Life program.
The RCC aims to raise funds for CHD treatment through the Citrineland Run for Gift of Life on May 7. All proceeds from the run will go to surgery and treatment of children with CHD. Registration details are found on the Facebook page of the Rotary Club of Cebu.