8-year-old boy with tongue tumor wants to be a cop

Leonardo “JR” Almazan III

When his only son and the youngest in his brood of five told him he wanted to be a policeman like soap opera character Cardo Dalisay in the TV show “Ang Probinsyano,” Leonardo Almazan Jr. said he felt helpless.

“I was teary-eyed. I was thinking to myself, ‘What do I have to do to get him treated and help him realize his dream?’” Almazan told the Inquirer.

When Leonardo Almazan III or JR was born in September 2014, he seemed normal and healthy although one of his cheeks was slightly larger. But it was not until he was 3 years old that JR started complaining of pain in his cheek and tongue, which by that time had also started growing bigger.

Almazan, a construction worker and farmer in Quezon, Isabela province, said he took JR to the Cagayan Valley Medical Center where an X-ray test and CT scan led to the diagnosis of tongue hemangioma (a usually benign tumor made up of blood vessels). The doctor, however, referred the boy to Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila, saying the hospital was not equipped to treat him.

At PGH, JR underwent four checkups but no treatment was done and his family had to forgo a fifth visit because they had gotten into debt borrowing money for the bus fare from Isabela to Manila and vice versa.

The lack of financial resources and the pandemic then prevented JR from getting a checkup between 2019 and 2020. By this time, his tongue, which had started protruding from his mouth because of its size, was giving him problems.

“It was cracking and bleeding and painful,” Almazan said. After a series of consultations and tests at Philippine Children’s Medical Center and Quezon City General Hospital in 2021 confirmed his diagnosis, JR was referred to the Philippine Heart Center where a doctor recommended 10 monthly sessions of ultrasound guided sclerotherapy to shrink the 8-year-old boy’s tongue. If left untreated, the condition might lead to cancer, the doctor warned.

JR will undergo his seventh session this month. Each one costs P27,600, an amount the family tries to put up by borrowing money from relatives and friends and seeking donations from politicians and kindhearted individuals moved by his plight.

Almazan is grateful that his son is responding to treatment. “His tongue has shrunk although it is still too big to fit inside his mouth but it no longer cracks and bleeds. The goal is to shrink his tongue to allow his doctor to operate for him to recover,” he said. Fortunately, JR’s condition has not affected his appetite or his speech. A Grade 1 student in Isabela, his favorite subject is math.

Almazan asked for help funding his son’s remaining sclerotherapy sessions as his earnings as a farmer and laborer are barely enough for his family’s needs. “We will be grateful for any assistance that will allow my son to get better and realize his dreams,” he said.

Donations can be deposited in his BDO Network Bank account (account name Leonardo l. Almazan with account number 047180001748). He can be contacted at 0905-9367679.

— STEPHANIE R. ASUNCION