Surviving through the kindness of Inquirer readers

AFTER THE STORM A hale and healthy Vincent Piedad dons a cowboy hat after his brain surgery.

When doctors found a tumor in the brain of 8-year-old Vincent Gabriel Piedad in July 2013, they recommended 16 sessions of chemotherapy.

To finance the treatment, Piedad’s mother, Percy, said she and her husband, Antonio, a waiter, had to borrow heavily from family and friends and were now deep in debt.

Aside from the chemo sessions, doctors at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) said the boy must undergo two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests so they could check his progress. The cost for both tests was P30,000.

With no one else willing to lend them the money, Percy decided to call up the Inquirer to ask help from its readers through the paper’s Metro section, which has an Intensive Care Corner (ICC).

At least once a week, the plight of a patient in need of financial assistance is published in the ICC column after a thorough vetting and interview by the Metro staff. Donations are deposited directly in the patient’s bank account.

When Piedad’s story was published in September 2015, his family was able to raise enough money that went into lab tests, physical therapy and brain surgery to remove the boy’s brain tumor.

“I don’t know how it is with other patients but in our case, I think it was a combination of my son’s determination and persistence that allowed us to make it through his illness,” Percy told the Inquirer.

After he was diagnosed, Piedad told his mother that he was willing to undergo surgery if it would save his life.

Realizing how determined her son was to survive, Percy said she decided to quit her job as a secretary in a manufacturing firm so she could look after him and his two siblings full-time.

“No amount of money can compensate for the health and well-being of my children so I need to make a sacrifice by giving up my job,” she said.

Piedad is now 14. During his last general checkup at the PGH, the results were normal. He is now back as a Grade 6 student at Cavite Sto. Niño School in Barangay Bucandala, Imus City, Cavite.

“He’s doing well in school. He loves to draw cars and houses. He says he wants to be an engineer. He also wants to become a pilot and see the world,” Percy said of his son.

Like Piedad, Erville Jush Tablizo was forced to quit school for three years after he was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia in 2013 when he was 5.

After undergoing chemotherapy 11 times at Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC), Tablizo’s family found their funds running low and as in Piedad’s case, they turned to Inquirer readers for help in paying for the three remaining sessions costing P35,000 each.

ON THEIR SICK BED A weakened Piedad (left) and an emaciated Tablizo sought help from Inquirer readers for the treatment of their serious ailments.

After Tablizo’s story came out in January 2017, his family got P120,000 in donations, allowing the boy to complete his treatment.

Interestingly enough, the biggest donation came from the employer of their neighbor in Catanduanes province who was moved by the boy’s plight.

Some two years later, Tablizo seems like the typical 12-year-old whose favorite sport is basketball, although he has to wear a surgical mask in public places for his own protection.

His father, Erwin, a high school science teacher at San Miguel Development High School in San Miguel town, Catanduanes, said that doctors at the PCMC have given his son a clean bill of health.

Tablizo has also resumed his studies at Juan Molina Alberto Memorial Elementary School in Virac as a Grade 2 pupil.

“He was an honor student in Grade 1. During the last grading period this year, his average grade was 90,” Erwin told the Inquirer.

His son dreams of becoming a policeman, he added. “He doesn’t want to be a teacher like me because he says a teacher’s salary is low. I tell him our financial situation. I am honest with him,” the father added.

Piedad and Tablizo are both beneficiaries of donors, some of whom contact the patient themselves to verify what they had read in the Inquirer.

Most of these donors choose to remain anonymous although some beneficiaries disclose their identities to the Inquirer, not to brag, but to share the good news with the Metro staff.

BACK TO SCHOOL Erville Tablizo receives his third quarter award certificate and stands proud beside his grandmother.

Among these donors are a former vice mayor who was recently elected city mayor; a TV host and actor and his equally famous actor father; a senator, a TV and movie actress, and a derma-surgeon to the stars.

Although Vincent has repeatedly told his mother that he has moved on and would rather forget his ordeal as a brain tumor patient, Percy said she would always remember the kindness of the paper’s readers who had sent in donations to help in her son’s treatment.

“Thank you for listening, for being an instrument. And thank you to the Inquirer for giving us some space in the newspaper,” Percy said.