Patients grateful to anonymous samaritans

By Ramon S. Dacawi 

BAGUIO CITY -- Whoever they are, this item is for those gentle souls out there who recently reached out to patients fighting for dear life.

“Whoever they are, please thank them for us,” Noli Estras, a 44-year old tricycle driver and father of four  from Sison, Pangasinan, asked the media last Wednesday.

The day before, he met two men who handed him cash, saying it was for his youngest child, 19-year old Rossana who is into the thick of her second bout against cancer of the blood.

Mostly likely, the two were fathers like him. Perhaps, they were even granddads.  

The first called up Noli at about three o’clock Tuesday afternoon. He said he wanted to know if he could meet Noli in front of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center so he could hand P4,000.

“Receive  this as my support to your daughter,”  Noli quote the man as saying in Ilocano. Noli asked if he could get his name, but the Samaritan replied, “Babaamon (Never mind)”.

An hour later, another man called, asking if Noli was still in Baguio. Noli answered ‘yes” as Rossana was still recovering from the effects of her first after-relapse chemotherapy at the BGHMC the day before.

Noli met the man, who identified himself as “Lakay Neil”, below the city post office. There, he handed P2,500 to the distraught father.

At angelus last Thursday, a forty-something donor called Noli, for him to meet her at the lobby of the Flavier Building of the BGHMC.

“She told me she’s also a cancer survivor and, because of the trauma, apologized for not seeing my daughter,” Noli said. “She handed P5,000 support. When I asked who we were indebted to, she just identified herself as “Honey”.”

Last Friday morning, Noli also received a guarantee letter from Rep. Bernardo Vergara asking the BGHMC to charge P15,000 from the solon’s Medical Assistance Fund for Rossana’s treatment.

These gestures proved a windfall for Noli, who earns between P150 to P200 daily driving a tricycle owned by a barangay official of Asan Norte in Sison, Pangasinan.

Rossana was diagnosed in September, 2011 for acute lymphocytic leukemia. With support from Senators Allan Peter and Pia Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes and Rep. Kimi Cojuangco of Pangasinan, she began her protracted treatment protocol at the BGHMC.

Last February, the girl suffered a relapse. It meant she had to start her treatment all over again. The new treatment protocol was pegged initially at P34,200 a month for the “remission induction chemotherapy”, to be administered weekly for four to six weeks.

She had her first back-to-square-one chemo last Monday. Because of the prohibitive costs, it was  three months delayed.

With a long way to go, she still needs all the help she can get. As she has no cellphone, Samaritans can ring up her father’s, perhaps until next Sunday, which will be Father’s Day. The number is 09204508497.

Two other fathers who also declined to be identified also kept alive the hopes of  51-year old cancer patient Emilia Tallongen and 21-year old heart patient Crisly Anayasan.

As he usually does when he reads a patient’s appeal, one of the two donors had his secretary hand P12,000 to Tallongen and P15,000 to Emilia Anayasan, mother of Crisly.

Tallongen’s fight against the big C was also boosted by a P2,500 support  from the other Samaritan, also a regular donor who likewise gave  P2,000 for Crisly. On top of these, another kind soul deposited P3,000 to Tallongen’s  bank account.

Tallongen worked for 10 years as street sweeper and is now on her llth year as  barangay nutrition worker assigned at the Campo Filipino District here. In June last year, she noticed a swelling on the left side of her neck. It was diagnosed as Hodgkins lymphoma, or cancer of the lymph nodes. After undergoing surgery, she began chemotherapy.

Crisly, son of a seamstress from San Carlos Heights, Irisan here, was born with a heart defect medically known as ventral septal defect, perimembanous type. For years now, his mother has been working on a possible surgery at the Philippine Heart Center, something she hopes would be done before the boy turns 22 in December.

Samaritans may call Tallongen at cellphone number 09295390281 and Anayasan at 09197421723.