TAYO
A MEDICAL mission in Baliwag, Bulacan province sponsored by St. Luke’s Medical Center in March 2014 led to the discovery of a swollen lymph node in Mark Lester Tayo’s neck.
Further tests showed that the then 7-year-old boy was suffering from acute leukemia.
“I was told by one of the doctors in the medical mission that if a lymph node takes a long time to heal, it is not caused by a simple cold or an open wound. It must be something more serious,” Mark’s mother, Melodia, told the Inquirer.
The doctor then told her to have her son, now 9 years old, undergo a bone marrow checkup at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) in Quezon City.
Melodia, who has four other children with husband Jose, a bread delivery boy, said that Mark was now undergoing chemotherapy, the fifth of 12 chemotherapy sessions recommended by his doctors.
He is also scheduled to undergo an operation on May 26 at PCMC where a fluid sample will be taken from his spinal cord to determine if the cancer cells have spread to his brain.
For this, the family will need P22,000 for three vials of anticancer medicine—Methotrexate Assay and Cytarabine.
Melodia can be reached at 0932-9298764. Donations can be deposited in her daughter’s Landbank account (Mary Janlou Tayo #0106126062).