Reaching out just a text away

BENCHWARMER

Ramon Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY -- It’s better – and easier -   to give than to receive.

Former world champion Manny Pacquiao knows that dictum for sure, especially after he hit the canvas from that devastating knockout punch unleashed by Juan Manuel Marquez in their fourth encounter last December.

Mike Santos knows this dictum, too. He feels  it more than many of his fellow lesser or ordinary mortals.

That’s why Mike, a 41-year old per-trip driver for humanitarian missions of  the Benguet Electric Cooperative, texted friends and acquaintances whose names he found in his cell card directory last week.

The shoe is now on the other foot.  From transporting sick patients so they could line up for help at the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office in Metro-Manila, Mike found himself also taking that queue late last year.

Leonor, his 43-year old wife needed PCSO support to sustain his fight against breast cancer.  The diagnosis came in August last year, after a check-up at the Pines City Doctors Hospital here.

Leonor, a nurse at the Benguet Laboratories, had undergone surgery and completed six chemotherapy sessions that drained her young family’s resources.

Mike can’t drive for other sick people these days. In-between looking up the ceiling while attending to his wife, he thumbs the keys on his cellphone and then presses “send”.

Since last April 12  he and Leonor has been appearing daily, from Monday to Friday,  at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in Quezon City.  She has to undergo 33 days of external beam radiation.

Soon, her sessions will be over. Except the settlement of her bills.

As texted by Mike, the package will be P74,115, broken down to P12,855 for planning and CT Scan; P21,000 for professional fee; and P40,260 for the sessions.

Leonor and Mike are just a text away for Samaritans our there. Her cellphone number is 09082214030 and his is 09179739158.

Also last week, a candidate for the city council took time out of the campaign trail to reach out to two other patients.

“Please hand this small amount to them,” the donor, who requested anonymity, advised as he turned over P2000.

The amount will be divided  equally. Half  will go to  Emilia Tallongen, a 51-year old former street sweeper now day care worker who is battling Hogkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer attacking the lymph nodes.

The other half will be for Emilia Anayasan, a 51-year old mother and seamstress who, for years now, has been trying to get a hospital bed for his son, Crisly, at the Philippine Heart Center.

Crisly, who was born with a congenital heart anomaly doctors identified as ventral septaldefect, hopes to turn 22 next Christmas.

Donors may  punch Tallongen’s cellphone number (09295390281) and Anayasan’s  ( 09197421723).

After all, it’s better – and easier – to give than to receive. (e-mail:mondaxbench@yahoo.com for comments)