Two more dialysis patients need help

By Ramon Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY -- Both are supposed to be in the “prime of life”, explained by language experts as “the time of maturity when power and vigor are at their greatest.” 

Marilou Matias, a housewife from Villasis, Pangasinan, is 24 with a five-year old daughter.  Dinton Canuto Basta, a laborer from La Trinidad, Benguet,  is 25, single and supposed to be a laborer.

Since May last year, however, Marilou could hardly do housekeeping. That was after he was rushed to the hospital due to severe abdominal pain and vomiting. Dinton, fifth of six children of a laborer, was sidelined from washing carrots at the La Trinidad Trading Post after he suffered a mild stroke and nosebleed last November.

Both were diagnosed for total kidney failure. Both were advised to undergo at least twice a week hemodialysis treatment for life. At P2,200 to P2,600 per session, excluding other maintenance medicines, blood transfusions and other medical requirements to survive, it’s hazardous to the wallet.

Still, it’s a more practical option compared to kidney transplant, which can run to P1.5 million from tissue matching to recovery, the amount to include expensive anti-rejection medicines for at least a year

Yet hemodialysis is far beyond the means, not only for Dinton and Marilou, but to hundreds of similarly situated patients from all over who have flocked to Baguio and La Trinidad to be near those equally expensive machines that work as their kidneys.

Simplicio, Marilou’s 34-year old  common-law husband who works as a security guard, just can’t figure out how ends could meet. Distraught over how to sustain his wife’s treatment, he got her social case study report from the municipal social welfare office, the clinical abstract and her written permission allowing the publication  of a news item on  her plight.

So did Dinton’s 56-year  mother, Benita, a farm laborer from Kapangan, Benguet. Last week, she followed up on her son’s request for publication of his medical condition, “with the hope that readers/listeners would know of my case and be able to respond and extend their support to help sustain my dialysis sessions”.

Marilou is on the Monday and Thursday schedule at the crowded Renal Center of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Simplicio said it was easier for her to be brought up her by bus for her treatment than to have her session in Dagupan.

The couple’s struggle to maintain her treatment sessions is for their five-year old daughter Sharmane.

Dinton has four sisters and a brother also trying to make ends meet. Gereldin, the eldest at 35, and Dionido, 33, are marginal farmers. Rebecca, 30, is a store helper, while Sharon, 31, is a house help. Rythlyn, 23, is a farm laborer like their father Elemterio.

Elemterio, a native of Kabayan, Benguet, met Benita in Quirino Province where both worked as farm laborers. After marriage, the couple established their residence on a lot given them by a relative. Their six kids did not pursue college studies due to limited financial resources, wrote social worker Maria Lourdes Taguiba of the La Trinidad social welfare office.

Dinton, the last child, ventured into La Trinidad in 2007, and found work as a carrot washer. Last November, he suffered a mild stroke. Medical examination confirmed he was also suffering from end-stage renal failure.

“He is at present undergoing twice-a-week hemodialysis which the family could no longer afford to support,” said Taguiba.

Dinton, who is supposed to be on the Monday and Thursday dialysis schedule (11 a.m.- 3p.m. shift) at the BGHMC might not be able to make it this Monday as his family has ran out of people to run to for help. He  can be reached through his mother’s cellphone number  (09465507988). Samaritans can also contact Marilou at cellphone number 09268469200.

Grim is the struggle of many dialysis patients, yet their faces lighten up each time someone like Engr. Leonard Licanio comes along and reaches out to them. Recently, he handed over P2,000 each to dialysis patients Linbeth Lestino and Madeline Ranille.

Last week, kidney patient Jocelyn Laigo, of Burgos, La Union reported that Licanio likewise contributed P1,200 for her dialysis sessions.

“He is Mr.  Leonardo Licani  from Mankayan pero nadistino Balatok mines, ken project manager ti Akikis builders,” Jocelyn texted.