Sick laborer’s nephew suffers the same fate

By Ramon Dacawi

 It’s devastating enough  for his family that April Vicente Sakiwat, a 34-year old laborer from Mankayan, Benguet, was diagnosed for end-stage kidney failure in October last year.

What’s beyond comprehension is it turned into a double whammy. A month after doctors confirmed April’s illness, his nephew, 22-year old Robert Sakiwat Tomas, was also found suffering from end-stage renal disease.

Reason enough for family members and friends to now and then look up the sky, pitching to the blue yonder questions they all have the right to ask, yet painfully knowing there are no easy answers.

Early this November, April’s wife Cathy (nee Mangeda), appealed for help to sustain his dialysis sessions pegged at P2,200 per treatment, and set at 6 a.m. every  Wednesday and at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.

Robert’s mother, Divina, also issued the same call for help, also to maintain his own dialysis sessions, on the same schedule as his uncle’s at the BGHMC.

If one misses the other in one session, it only means one thing: you can’t be treated on empty.

Divina, 42, is April’s elder sister. Robert is her second of five children, after Richard, 25, and before Romel, 20, Rex, 18, and Rica, 16.

“Robert has three more dialysis sessions sponsored by Philhealth and we’re at a loss on how to fund his treatment after the third,” Divina admitted, referring to the government medical insurance system.

Another kidney patient, 28-year old Erwin De Vera Lanceta, also sounded the alarm. He had used up five sessions granted by Benguet Rep. Ronald Cosalan and P17,600 worth of support through a guarantee letter from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

Like many others afflicted with the debilitating and life-threatening disease, he had nowhere and no one to turn to. Except Samaritans out there who may be reading this.  

To survive, patients with end-stage renal failure must have to undergo two or three times hemodialysis per week.

The alternative is organ transplant, which is dependent on the availability of a compatible kidney, preferably from a blood relative to prevent rejection, and fund support of about P1.5 million.

Lanceta, 28 and unemployed,  is married to Prelia, a 35-year old saleslady who stopped working after the diagnosis last May. They live with Lorenjoy, their seven-month old daughter, at the poblacion in Sablan, Benguet, and are dependent on relatives for support.

“He could not rely on his ( brothers and sisters), because they, too, have their own families to support,” wrote social worker Edna Mendoza in a social case study report noted by Sablan mayor Arthur Baldo. “(Lanceta) is trying to be strong for his  family.”

`Tomas, son of marginal farmers from Mankayan, Benguet, transferred to  La Trinidad, Benguet in 2010, under the care of his mother’s uncle at the poblacion so he could finish a one-year course in automatic mechanics.

Samaritans may visit him at AD-091 Poblacion , La Trinidad or ring up his mother’s cellphone (09207366153).

Lanceta may by contacted at cellphone number 09206577935.