‘Warriors’ provide lifeline for cancer-stricken poor kids

MANILA, Philippines—Stephanie Medina, 16, has quite an extraordinary Christmas wish list, one that includes a meeting with no less than President Benigno Aquino III.

“I would like to talk to him and ask him to help all children who have cancer,” Medina said, putting it simply on behalf of young people like her who have been ravaged by the disease at an age when they should be dreaming, blooming and enjoying life to the fullest.

Medina, a recovering leukemia patient, may now be well enough to do a one-on-one with the President, thanks largely to the help she had received from the Cancer Warriors Foundation Inc. (CWFI), a lifeline for cancer-stricken kids from families too poor to pay for the treatments.

“I thought I was going to practically live at PGH (Philippine General Hospital) because of the constant radiation and chemotherapy, which leave me feeling weak and dizzy every time,” she told the Inquirer during a recent Christmas party thrown by CWFI for its beneficiaries, currently numbering over a hundred.

Bittersweet affair

Held at the Ellinwood church in Malate, Manila, the party had Medina and fellow “warriors” singing carols for their families, donors and guests. It was quite a bittersweet affair for the audience: many of the children, who otherwise looked healthy, pranced about and partied with their face masks on. For a moment, their singing drowned out thoughts of their life-threatening condition.

Organizers took two weeks to prepare for the party—if only to make sure that the kids would feel the spirit of the season.

With the help of partner group The Seed Project (TSP), CWFI was able to get enough gift donations solicited through e-mail and Facebook, based on a wish list given by the children.

The response was swift, especially from the multinational companies that were approached for the gifts, said Kristina Lindo, co-founder of The Seed Project.

It was reminiscent of the speed with which she and Winston Elliot were able to set up TSP about two years ago, starting with simple discussions over a cup of mint tea. TSP, she recalled, started out as an e-mail blast campaign among her friends to raise Christmas donations.

TSP has since been giving loads and loads of toys to Cancer Warriors, with this year’s drive proving to be the biggest and most organized so far, Lindo said.

“We wanted to create a campaign that will touch ordinary people like us and bring them closer to causes such as the Cancer Warriors. This year, I figured we could inspire more people if we had a more creative and organized campaign to gather toys and raise funds.’’

Lindo noted that in just two weeks, the campaign raised P154,000 in cash and checks—money that will go to the children’s treatment—plus donations in kind like assorted toys, bicycles, guitars, shoes, clothes, bags, and even wheelchairs and artificial limbs.

Unusual wishes

These items were specifically requested by the children. Some of the kids had some unusual wishes, like a chance to meet President Aquino or his celebrity sister Kris, actress Angel Locsin, and TV comics Vic Sotto and Vice Ganda.

“We did not think it was going to be this big (this year). It is a simple campaign that started out from a promotional material we sent to friends and officemates, who in turn started forwarding the e-mails and Facebook messages we sent them. They sent them to their friends and pretty soon we were receiving donations from all over,” Lindo told the Inquirer.

“In my involvement with many volunteer groups, I noticed that there are a lot more people who want to help but have limited means to do so. In The Seed Project, we want to break these barriers and bridge them to the many causes out there by coming up with creative campaigns and taking care of  logistical needs,’’ she explained.

‘’We do not want to force gifts on the kids. We want them to get what they really want for Christmas,’’ said CWF founder Jaime Auste, 35.

Auste said the gift-giving drive and Christmas party have been annual traditions since 2000, aimed at “cheering up the kids, even for a moment.”

“While they are undergoing chemotherapy, while they are fighting cancer, they will still feel it is Christmas with their families.  We want them to be very happy, so that by January when they return to their treatments, they would have a good memory to cheer them up. That is the reality, so we give everything to them during Christmas,” he said.