By Ramon Dacawi
BAGUIO CITY -- Both are supposed
to be in the “prime of life”, explained by language experts as “the time of
maturity when power and vigor are at their greatest.”
Marilou Matias, a housewife from
Villasis, Pangasinan, is 24 with a five-year old daughter.
Dinton Canuto Basta, a laborer from La Trinidad, Benguet, is 25, single and
supposed to be a laborer.
Since May last year, however,
Marilou could hardly do housekeeping. That was after he was rushed to the
hospital due to severe abdominal pain and vomiting. Dinton, fifth of six
children of a laborer, was sidelined from washing carrots at the La Trinidad
Trading Post after he suffered a mild stroke and nosebleed last November.
Both were diagnosed for total
kidney failure. Both were advised to undergo at least twice a week hemodialysis
treatment for life. At P2,200 to P2,600 per session, excluding other
maintenance medicines, blood transfusions and other medical requirements to
survive, it’s hazardous to the wallet.
Still, it’s a more practical
option compared to kidney transplant, which can run to P1.5 million from tissue
matching to recovery, the amount to include expensive anti-rejection medicines
for at least a year
Yet hemodialysis is far beyond
the means, not only for Dinton and Marilou, but to hundreds of similarly
situated patients from all over who have flocked to Baguio and La Trinidad to
be near those equally expensive machines that work as their kidneys.
Simplicio, Marilou’s 34-year
old common-law husband who works as a security guard, just can’t figure
out how ends could meet. Distraught over how to sustain his wife’s treatment,
he got her social case study report from the municipal social welfare office,
the clinical abstract and her written permission allowing the publication
of a news item on her plight.
So did Dinton’s 56-year mother,
Benita, a farm laborer from Kapangan, Benguet. Last week, she followed up on
her son’s request for publication of his medical condition, “with the hope that
readers/listeners would know of my case and be able to respond and extend their
support to help sustain my dialysis sessions”.
Marilou is on the Monday and
Thursday schedule at the crowded Renal Center of the Baguio General Hospital
and Medical Center, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Simplicio said it was easier for her
to be brought up her by bus for her treatment than to have her session in
Dagupan.
The couple’s struggle to maintain
her treatment sessions is for their five-year old daughter Sharmane.
Dinton has four sisters and a
brother also trying to make ends meet. Gereldin, the eldest at 35, and Dionido,
33, are marginal farmers. Rebecca, 30, is a store helper, while Sharon, 31, is
a house help. Rythlyn, 23, is a farm laborer like their father Elemterio.
Elemterio, a native of Kabayan,
Benguet, met Benita in Quirino Province where both worked as farm laborers.
After marriage, the couple established their residence on a lot given them by a
relative. Their six kids did not pursue college studies due to limited
financial resources, wrote social worker Maria Lourdes Taguiba of the La
Trinidad social welfare office.
Dinton, the last child, ventured
into La Trinidad in 2007, and found work as a carrot washer. Last November, he
suffered a mild stroke. Medical examination confirmed he was also suffering
from end-stage renal failure.
“He is at present undergoing
twice-a-week hemodialysis which the family could no longer afford to support,”
said Taguiba.
Dinton, who is supposed to be on
the Monday and Thursday dialysis schedule (11 a.m.- 3p.m. shift) at the BGHMC
might not be able to make it this Monday as his family has ran out of people to
run to for help. He can be reached through his mother’s cellphone
number (09465507988). Samaritans can also contact Marilou at cellphone
number 09268469200.
Grim is the struggle of many
dialysis patients, yet their faces lighten up each time someone like Engr.
Leonard Licanio comes along and reaches out to them. Recently, he handed over
P2,000 each to dialysis patients Linbeth Lestino and Madeline Ranille.
Last week, kidney patient Jocelyn
Laigo, of Burgos, La Union reported that Licanio likewise contributed P1,200
for her dialysis sessions.
“He is Mr. Leonardo Licani from Mankayan pero nadistino Balatok mines,
ken project manager ti Akikis builders,” Jocelyn texted.
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