What counts

BENCHWARMER

From: Ramon DAcawi

You win some, you lose some. Yet for the over 180 kidney patients undergoing life-time hemodialysis treatment at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, the balance has been tilting to the second half of the equation. They keep on losing some of those they had known  because of a common affliction.

  Most recent were John Mark Tiyad, a 22-year old Ifugao woodcarver’s son; Russell Solinto, a 56-year old former postman; and, the other week,  Belinda Solinto, a 39-year old mother of three.

 This item on John Mark’s passing is for a certain “Uncle” who met the boy afternoon of Aug. 24 the other year and handed him P5,000 to so he won’t attempt surviving on empty. It’s for a lady who declined to be identified but met him six days later at the Eastpark “wagwagan” along Harrison Rd. and there turned over an equal amount.

 It’s for a government regional director who, last October, whipped out P4,000 after reading of Solinto’s admission he had nowhere and no one to turn to for help to maintain his thrice-a-week dialysis sessions.

 It’s for that lawyer and former city councilor who was sipping coffee at McDonald’s below the city hall when his seatmate’s phone was alerted to a text message. It was from Belinda, who asked, perhaps for the nth time, if there’s anybody out there who could pick the tab for her next treatment set at four o’clock that afternoon.

 The former city councilor, who was back in law practice, handed over P2,000 on condition he would not be identified.

 This news on these transitions is for other generous and gentle souls out there who, at one time or repeatedly, had reached out to John Mark, Russel and Belinda.

 It’s also for  former world shotokan karate champion Julian Chees, his students and friends in southern Germany where he has established Shoshin, a foundation for the sick and needy here and in the Cordilleras.

 Julian was here last Christmas, to ease the fund stress of relatives of  those confined at the Mt. Province Hospital in Bontoc town and in Baguio, to deliver about P1 million in rice and cash to victims of typhoon Haiyan in Capiz, and to leave me a hundred grand for others in dire need.

The amount Julian left me was distributed to at least 25 patients battling or coping with serious illnesses and injuries. They included Russel and Belinda, and Maxim Farocanag, a 20-year old girl who was born with a hole in the heart. They were the latest list of ailing people who received support from Shoshin since it was founded in 2004.

 Julian, an Igorot expatriate has the distinction of being the only non-German by birth to have been drafted into the German national karate team.

Shoshin has so far distributed medicines and fund support totaling over P3 million to patients in the Cordillera.    

From last December to last week,  P96,000 from the fund he entrusted to me had been used up, mostly for patients suffering from end-stage kidney failure and who have to undergo two to three times a week hemodialys treatment for life in order to survive.

From the fund,  P12,500 was used for Arabella Maranes, a 15-year old daughter of a pony boy at the Wright Park bridle path suffering from cancer and who,  the other  week-end, was transported by operatives of the city disaster risk reduction and management council  for her magnetic resonance imaging in San Fernando, La Union.

Others supported by the fund included 15-year old pony boy Valerie Sito who was hospitalized for a bad fall during a Pony Boys Day race last March 1, 14 kidney patients undergoing twice- or thrice-a- week  hemodialysis treatment  and  a 34-year old man from La Union coping with depression.

Shoshin’s fund support has been concentrated for kidney patients who hardly find respite as they have to raise at least P2,200 for every treatment session ranging from two to three times a week. Skipping one or two treatments sometimes results in dire consequences, including blood poisoning, pulmonary edema and respiratory congestion. And death.  

Over the years, well-meaning people, including some medical doctors, advised it would do well for us to focus the news items we write about patients in need to cases that have great chances of being healed. With that criterion, they said,  Samaritans’ support would result in more patients saved and healed.

One gets muted, however, each time an ailing one comes for help, armed with such an admirable, unshaken belief and hope,  that, despite evidence to the contrary, he or she will find deliverance - if only Samaritans out there would know of his or her needs.

So we lose more than we win. Still, we’re witness to the reality that there will always be Samaritans out there, and, that, once in a little while, we witness a miracle.  (e-mail: mondaxbench@yahoo.com for comments.)