When patients come knocking

BENCHWARMER
Ramon S. Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY -- Because their number is apparently increasing, chances are you’ve met or know one or two of these patients., They’re those endlessly at a loss on how to fund those never-ending thrice- or twice-a-week blood-cleansing sessions for them to survive.

With nowhere else to go, one of them asked media to write on his case, hoping Samaritans out there would respond and foot the bill for one or two hemodialysis sessions. Julius Cesar Mendoza, 31, formerly of Tuba, Benguet, now of 0923 Purok 7, Dontogan, Baguio City, is jobless, married and father to an 11-year old son and two daughters aged nine and six.

With his written appeal for help, Julius presented an authority for his story to be written, a photostat copy of his postal identity card, his clinical abstract from the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center and a certification from punong barangay Venusto Gasigas that he’s indigent.

The social case study report, prepared last September by the municipal social welfare office of Tuba, Benguet (where the family earlier resided), noted the couple was earning P1,500 a month from their sari-sari store near the poblacion.

The figure falls short of the cost of one blood-cleansing or hemodialysis session. Julius is supposed to have it three times a week but he had to reduce to two, from 7:00 A.M. to 11 A.M. on Thursdays and the 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Mondays.

Unless, of course, he falls short of cash, which forced him to seek out media last week, the signs of deterioration and urgency shown by his pale lips, darkened complexion and difficulty walking his way up the city hall canteen.

His kidneys failed two years ago. For two years, he survived on peritoneal dialysis, with a blood-cleansing bag attached to his side and changed every eight hours. Last August, he shifted to the four-hour, twice-a-week hemodialysis at the BGHMC.

Like many trying to cope with kidney failure, Julius feels like he’s tied to a tread mill that constantly gathers speed, with no way out until his legs and body can no longer cope with the momentum and will just collapse.

“Due to limited resources of the family, client (patient) or wife usually travels down to Metro-Manila to solicit any external support from charitable institutions or from individuals to provide the (cost of) dialysis needed by client,” wrote social worker NenitaErasmo.

The report is familiar, similar to those of many others who, like Julius, are often trying to survive on empty. Julius has no cell phone but gave his wife’s number just in case there are Samaritans out there. It’s 09102396018.

It’s not unusual for patients like him to part with their cellulars in exchange for one blood-cleansing fix. Or, n Ithe case of a cancer patient, one chemotherapy treatment session. patient.In the same token, it’s not unusual for the knocks on would-be Samaritans’ doors becoming more frequent.

That’s why toddlers of the day care center at city hall and their parents pooled P3,125 after bonding through the city’s Eco-walk environmental program last week-end at the Busol watershed.

Back in class Monday with day care teacher AngelitaTomeldan, the kids turned over the amount to FamorcaBannog, a construction laborer from Banaue, Ifugao who has been sidelined for months now.

Famorca’s second of five kids, 14-year old Frederick has been confined for weeks now at the BGHMC.

The boy was diagnosed for cerebral palsy months after he was born. Last September, he started bleeding, just three days after his dad brought home his grandma Emma who suffered a stroke and was confined at a hospital for 26 days.

Frederick suffers from esophageal varices or dilated veins in the lower esophagus that trigger bleeding. He also has duodenitis or inflammation of the first section of the small intestine.
Doctors recommended ligation, or tying off three blood vessels using an elastic material to stop bleeding. The whole procedure, doctors said, would cost P60,000.

That’s why the toddlers at the city hall day care center raised P3,125.

That’s why former world traditional karate champion Julian Chees is coming home from his base in Germany to do a martial arts seminar for-a-cause early on December 3. He’s been coming home yearly since 2004 to deliver fund for indigent patients. This year, however, Shoshin, the little foundation he and his karate students established, concentrated its support to earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan.

That’s why all fees and proceeds from Julian’s seminar will go to ailing kids with nowhere to go for their treatment and recovery.That’s why a woman worker at city hall handed over P1,000. It’s for any patient, she said, declining to be identified. It will be for Frederick.

That’s why Goshenland, the entrepreneurial housing project of Baguio couple Alex and AnabelleBangsoy is coming up anew with a street kids football tournament, mainly for abandoned children they found around the Burnham Park football grounds.

The young couple has given these kids hope, not only in the field of dreams that is football, but through scholarship. Beyond these sacrifices, Anabelle still aches for that day when she has built a modest housing for street kids..

That’s why Miggs Velarde, president of the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club, had a television connection installed for inmates of the city jail to watch the live coverage of Manny Pacquiao’s fight last Sunday.

After all, Karl Marx and Mother Theresa were both right. From each according to his/her ability. If you can’t feed a hundred, feed ten. If you can’t feed ten, feed one. (e-mail: mondaxbench@yahoo.com for comments.)