Losing the boy who wanted to fly a plane

BENCHWARMER
Ramon Dacawi

Baguio boy Mark Anthony Viray passed on before dawn Wednesday. Death ended his protracted battle against cancer that drew support from various corners, including children who nurtured his dream of one day flying a plane.

The kid succumbed to the big C at 3:57 a.m. at the intensive care unit of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center. It was 20 days after his last hospital admission, 33 months after he was diagnosed for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, or cancer of the lymph nodes.

Mark Anthony was 13. He is survived by his 50-year old dad, Ernesto, a widower and off-and-on taxi driver, and elder sister Kristine, 15, who had dropped out of high school to take care of him. His mother died before he was old enough to have a memory of her.

Ernesto remembers a doctor waking him up to tell his son was already gone. As he waited for the mortuary service to come prepare his son for the vigil, Ernesto tried to text the news to Samaritans whose numbers he found in his cell phone directory.

Texting helped him cope. By morning, neighbors led by led by DPS punong barangay Narcisa Laguitan were waiting for the casket bearing a child of the village to arrive.

Mark Anthony lies in state at their rented home at 22-34 DPS Barangay. His graduation photo, taken as he was receiving his elementary diploma last March, rests atop the viewing glass of the recycled coffin from the city social welfare office. Burial will be this Monday at the city cemetery, after a 9:00 a.m. mass at the Baguio Cathedral.

The diagnosis came in mid-2008, two months before former world traditional karate champion Julian Chees, who is based in Germany, came home for a visit. Julianb treated the boy to pizza, ordered a take-home for Kristine then set aside P20,00 for the initial chemotherapy sessions.

Two months later, barangay DPS mounted a concert with newsman March Fianza for the next two sessions. Last Christmas the village did a variety show at the barangay court where Blue Graz, a lawyers’ band led by Bubut Olarte, did an encore, also for Laluz Awal, the boy’s neighbor suffering from kidney failure.

From their home in Midland, Michigan, Igorot couple Paul and Jenelyn Balanza sent Mark Anthony a red vest with cash in the pocket and a model airplane. Expatriate Freddie de Guzman, who grew up in DPS, also extended support. Menchu Sarmiento, executive director of Philippine Airlines Foundation, promised a plane ride as soon as the kid would recover.

In February, 2009, kids of Brent School learned from an alumnus, car racing champion Carlos Anton, that it would take more than a village to keep alive Mark Anthony’s dream of becoming a pilot. It unleashed the power of the kid’s dream – and of Brent’s children who came up with a “trashion show” (fashion show out of recycled garbage they turned into clothes). They raised P7,500, which Anton’s friends matched for a total of P15,00 for the boy.

Early last year, Mark Anthony suffered a relapse. His lymphatic cells, ironically supposed to protect him from infection and disease, were found to be mutating and turning pesky again, almost on a riot. He 13 and back to square one, told to start anew his chemotherapy treatment, under a stronger protocol.

Shoshin (Beginner’s Mind) Kinderhilfe, a small foundation set up by Chees’ karate students, bankrolled his CT-Scan on neck, chest and abdomen costing over P20,000. Ong Kian Teong, a Malaysian graduate student at the University of the Philippines, sent P10,000.

Last February, Brent’s kids raised P12,000, and Anton’s friends matched it for a total of P24,000. Last March, they added P10,500, again matched by Anton’s friends. Late April, the Brent kids raised P5,000 from a concert and Anton’s friends again came up with an equal amount.

Last March, Mark Anthony had his graduation march in a pair of black shoes his father bought for the occasion. After the ceremony, the boy wrapped and stored the pair, saying he would use them again.

But his condition deteriorated, prompting Jimmy Munar of Baguio to contact the office of Red Cross national chairman Richard Gordon, Red Cross sent 19 units of plasma blood for transfusion.

Mark Anthony used to look up to the sky each time he’d hear the drone of planes. The closest he came to one was the gift toy. When the diagnosis came, his dad looked up, too, throwing questions a father in his situation had all the right to ask. Before dawn Wednesday, he looked up the ceiling.

Ernesto and Kristine found the answer in the acts of Samaritans of all ages who worked on Anthony’s corner to nurture the boy’s dream. Kindness has braced them for this Monday’s funeral. (e-mail: mondaxbench@yahoo.com for comments).