Talisay family to shelter Rizza

Two weeks after she landed in a Cebu City hospital, 12-year-old Rizza Flores was offered a place to stay by a family in Talisay City until she makes a full recovery.

The family who requested anonymity will provide Rizza room with a computer, books and stuffed toys.

“One of my daughters can speak Waray and help her adjust here,” the mother told Cebu Daily News.

Flores, who hails from Villa Patria, Burauen, Leyte was discharged from Chong Hua Hospital yesterday after a three week confinement.

She underwent surgery for the broken femur bone in her right leg after one of the wooden beams of her home collapsed on her.

Her home was one of hundreds that were destroyed by supertyphoon Yolanda in Leyte province exactly a month ago yesterday.

It took barangay tanods six hours to pull Flores out of the rubble of her home.

Volunteers from the US-based International Medical Corps saw her at the Eastern Visayas Regional Memorial Medical Center in Tacloban and coordinated with the Doña Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Foundation which arranged to have her airlifted to Cebu.

No hospital in Leyte could handle her case at the time.

Flores celebrated her 12th birthday on Nov. 26 or a day after she underwent a five-hour surgery.

Gifts, food and chocolate poured into her hospital room after people read about her plight in Cebu Daily News.

During her two-week confinement, Flores expressed her desire to resume schooling.

The couple who offered to house Flores said they will provide her with a tutor after learning that she wanted to learn English.

“We also want her to learn and we will support her with that,” they said.

Flores will continue with her rehabilitation therapy.

Dr. Leopoldo Jiao III, said Flores will undergo an X-ray scan to determine the progress of her femur bone’s healing. He said it will take a couple of weeks of physical therapy sessions until Flores can fully recover and walk on her own.

Fr. Loreto Jaque, who is also trained in art and play therapy will also visit Flores for play and therapy sessions. Flores, who cried upon learning that her family is staying in one of the evacuation centers in Burauen said she was comforted by the thought that she has a foster family in Cebu. /Michelle Joy L. Padayhag, Correspondent