13-year-old girl with leukemia wishes to spend Christmas with siblings
Mary Joy Patilan
After staying in Manila for two years to seek treatment for acute lymphocytic leukemia, 13-year-old Mary Joy Patilan has gone home for the meantime to Catarman, Samar.
“She told me she longs to go home because she misses her four siblings terribly. If it can help her heal emotionally, we are all for it despite our limited finances,” said her mother, Evangeline Patilan, 52, who accompanied Mary Joy home on Nov. 15.
Evangeline’s husband, Honorio, 50, attends to their four other children in Catarman. He works as a street sweeper.
Right after Mary Joy was diagnosed with leukemia in 2015, she stopped going to school. At that time, she was in Grade 5.
When in Manila, Mary Joy and her mother stay at Child Haus in Paco, Manila, a halfway house for kids battling cancer. They intend to return to Manila on Dec. 6 in time for the shelter’s Christmas party on the 15th.
“It is something the management wants [us] to share in; celebrating Christmas to make the patients feel they are not exempted from celebrating,” Evangeline said.
The day after Christmas, Mary Joy is set to undergo the sixth of 12 cycles of chemotherapy prescribed for her by doctors at Philippine Children’s Medical Center.
Her family spends P22,000 for each session which she must undergo every three weeks.
“I wish my daughter’s would-be donors a Merry Christmas in advance. May God continue to bless them and give them peace of mind,” Evangeline said.
She and Mary Joy can be reached at 0912-3343226. Those who want to help the Patilans can deposit their donations in Honorio P. Patilan Jr.’s Landbank account (#1196 2327 68.)
