2 more chemo sessions left for 10-year-old battling leukemia

Jaira Lauron

MANILA, Philippines — If it were up to John Cris Lauron, his daughter Jaira, who was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia in February 2016, would be his only child.

“I am scared of having another one. What if he or she has the same disease? For someone like me who is poor, it is indeed hard when your child gets sick,” Lauron, 30, told the Inquirer.

He makes a living as a fisherman in Pagbilao, Quezon province, where he and partner, Ruby, are raising Jaira, who is now 10 years old. They live with his parents.

Lauron said that Jaira stopped going to school right after she was diagnosed because she had to undergo chemotherapy at Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila. But Ruby made sure that her daughter kept up with her studies by borrowing her nieces’ school books.

Excited to resume studies

“Jaira’s cousins will be in Grade 4 this coming school year and she will be only in Grade 2 but my daughter is happy and excited about going back to school,” Lauron said.

But before she does, Jaira must undergo two more chemotherapy sessions to complete the 12-cycle treatment doctors had prescribed for her.

She will undergo her 11th session on April 30 under the PGH’s maintenance program. Each session costs P15,000.

Her family will also need to raise an additional P22,000 for her bone marrow, MRI and CT scan tests.

Those who would like to help Jaira can deposit their donations in her father’s Landbank account (John Cris Lauron, account # 0596 1731 44). Lauron can be contacted at 0930-0120394.