11-year battle with blood disorder takes its toll on teen’s body

Justin Lei Silva

MANILA, Philippines — For the past 11 years, Justin Lei Silva has been battling Beta thalassemia major, an inherited blood disorder in which the body does not produce hemoglobin (part of the red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body) normally. The 13-year-old Silva is an incoming Grade 4 student at San Agustin Elementary School in Hagonoy, Bulacan province. He was diagnosed with the disease a week before he turned 2 years old.

“He always had to stop in the middle of a school year because he was spending more time in the hospital than in school,” his mother Loriefe told the Inquirer.

Silva was supposed to undergo a blood transfusion at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center on Aug. 11. Unfortunately, his family is having difficulty raising the P7,000 needed for the procedure. Each bag of blood costs P1,800. On top of this, the teenager is also taking Exjade as maintenance medicine.

Priced at P875 per tablet, it should be taken twice a day to help Silva fight off other illnesses following the removal of his spleen. Due to the unusual volume of blood produced by her son’s body, his spleen became enlarged and then stopped functioning due to the large amount of waste it had to filter, according to Loriefe.

She can be reached at 0945-2453390. Donations can be coursed through Justin Lei Silva’s BDO account (#5410-2673-71).