Fleshing out the spirit

BENCHWARMER
Ramon S. Dacawi

Now 13, Mark Anthony Viray still dreams of one day flying an airplane. Three years after he was diagnosed for Hodgkins lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes, the boy can still look up at the sound of engines buzzing in the sky.

Until when, his dad, his sister and his village – Barangay DPS here - are unsure. This much they’re sure of: It takes more than a village to heal a child and to sustain his dream.

That’s why they’re asking you – yes, you, the reader – to drop by the covered court of DPS Barangay this Tuesday evening. That’s when Bubut Olarte and his band of lawyers will sing the carols of the season in a concert for a cause four nights before Christmas Day.

It’s actually a variety show dubbed “A Second Chance at Life” – for Mark Anthony and his neighbor, 31-year old Laluz Nawal, who’s undergoing twice-a-week hemodialysis treatment for kidney failure.

That’s why the other folk bands and talents will also perform for free: Bow, Pedals and Necks; Seldom Seen (with March Fianza and Sammy Comiles); together with the University of Baguio Band, UB’s Singing Nurses, ballroom dancers of Endless Gym and Studio Two, the DPS Kids and The Awal grandchildren.

If you have to be somewhere on concert night, then drop by earlier for a P25 ticket or a P250 booklet from punong barangay Narcisa Laguitan and her barangay council. They’ll be grateful, knowing you’ll still be there Tuesday night in the spirit of the yuletide.

“A Second Chance….” was originally planned for Laluz, but when those who broached the idea of a fund drive learned of Mark Anthony’s own struggle for medical deliverance they immediately decided to have two concert beneficiaries.

It’s about misery needing company, but with a refreshing, upside twist. Mark Anthony and Laluz, the youngest child of the late Ibaloi lawyer Abundio Awal, have gone this far because there are people who believe this season’s message is for all seasons.

Laluz, the youngest of seven children, has been a diabetic since she was a child. She was diagnosed for kidney failure last January and began her thrice-a-week hemodialysis treatment thereafter.

That was when Mark Anthony had a relapse after a series of chemotherapy sessions on the first stage of a protracted treatment protocol that should be administered for three to five years.

The families of both patients had long been drained financially. Laluz and Mark Anthony have gone this far because Samaritans out there believe the message of Christmas is one for all seasons.

Among these gentle souls were karate students in southern Germany who, through their teacher, former world champion Julian Chees, established Shoshin, a foundation reaching out to ailing children. They bankrolled Mark Anthony’s initial chemotherapy and then the CT-Scans on his neck, chest and abdomen.

Among them were kids of Brent School who raised P7,500 for the boy who wants to fly a plane. Friends of international car racing champion Carlos Anton, a Brent alumnus, matched the amount.

The relapse, however, prompted Dr. Geneviewe Bandiwan, pediatric resident in charge of the Baguio General Hospital, to strengthen the treatment protocol. Mark Anthony has to be given chemotherapy drugs one day 1 and 15 every four weeks for six cycles. Total amount needed per day of chemotherapy is pegged at P18,600, something far beyond the comprehension of the kid’s father, Ernesto, an off-and-on taxi driver.

With tickets pegged at P25 each for this Tuesday evening concert, residents of DPS barangay understand the proceeds will hardly sustain the boy’s chemotherapy, and Laluz’s blood-cleansing sessions.

Still, they hope the event would open greater opportunities for support from people out there who are looking for ways of fleshing out the message of this season.

That’s why a friend who won’t be there on concert night bought 10 ticket booklets worth P2,500. He knows it isn’t much yet hopes it would help provide answers to questions these two young patients, together with their families, have all the right to ask. (e-mail: mondaxbench@yahoo.com for comments).