Baby badly needs liver transplant

By Ramon Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY -- Kurt XyloLehoc, a nine-month old baby, is in need of liver transplant, but his parents, both minors, know not how, who and where to turn to for help. 

Distraught, his mother, Rosemarie, 15, turned to media. She’s  hoping people in the know would read of her baby’s plight and guide her to which institution or agency helps work  out liver transplant so Kurt can be in the waiting list of organ recipients. 

The clinical abstract, issued after the toddler was hospitalized last May, pointed to “decompensated liver disease secondary to biliary atresia; sepsis (Escheria coli); health care associated pneumonia”. 

The findings are far beyond a baby’s endurance, or a mother’s capacity to accept. “Decompensated liver disease” meant Kurt  Xylo’s liver has been damaged and can hardly function.

Biliary atresia is a rare disease characterized by the blockage of bile that should normally flow from the liver to the gallbladder. 

According to medicine health, “sepsis is a condition in which the body is fighting a severe infection that has spread via the bloodstream”. WebMD says  “pneumonia  is a lung infection that can make you very sick”.

In a social case study report she prepared, social welfare officer Jacqueline Tupong  noted that the baby was recommended for a liver transplant.

Such delicate procedure is done in Japan, estimated to cost P5 million.

Baby Kurt, his mother,  her three sisters and her brother stay in their father’s house at 192 Km. 3, Asin Road, Baguio City. Reynaldo Lehoc Sr., the family patriarch, is the sole breadwinner.

He earns between P2,000 to P3,000 a month as photographer. 

As they’re minors, the baby’s parents can not yet legally marry. They live apart but Kurt’s father, who is in senior high school, visits mother and child after his class. 

People who can help this young couple save Kurt  may ring up Rosemarie’s cellphone – 09305769826.