5-year-old boy’s birthday wish is to beat leukemia

Jaryl Verden Jaluag

MANILA, Philippines — When he turned 5 years old last week, Jaryl Verden Jaluag’s birthday wish was to get better.

His dream, however, is to become a policeman like Cardo Dalisay — just like the hundreds of young boys who grew up watching “Ang Probinsyano” on television every night.

“He says he wants to catch criminals,” his mother Sheryl Colina told the Inquirer.

In November last year, her son was found to be suffering from acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). Days before he was diagnosed, Jaluag vomited after eating and developed a persistent fever. He recovered but lost his appetite while his complexion turned pale.

Then, while accompanying his mother to the market one day, the boy complained of tiredness and pain in his limbs.

“I took him home but, in the afternoon, I saw him struggling to breathe,” Colina said.

She took him to a clinic near their house in Caloocan City where a test showed a low blood count. The staff referred her to a hospital where a doctor looked at the test result and told her to bring her son to a hematologist because he had leukemia.

At Philippine Children’s Medical Center in Quezon City, a doctor ordered a bone marrow test which showed that Jaluag had ALL. He was placed on a 14-cycle standard chemotherapy but a second bone marrow test in February this year showed that the boy had suffered a relapse. He was shifted to a high-risk protocol using chemo drugs with a higher dosage.

In April, another test showed that Jaluag was in remission and his doctor recommended 12 cycles of chemotherapy over the next three years. At present, he is still completing the first cycle with the next one set for August.

Each cycle costs P179,751.25. Colina said they were able to pay for the first cycle by soliciting donations from government agencies and some congressmen. The amount, however, covers only the drugs used for the chemotherapy cycle which could take as long as four to five days. “Every time we go to the hospital for Jaryl’s chemo, I need to have at least P5,000 on hand for our fare, food and other expenses. Sometimes, I need to buy medicines like antibiotics which are not available in the hospital pharmacy,” Colina said.

While she thinks they’re luckier than most families because her husband did not lose his job due to the pandemic, what he earns as a security guard only pays for their family’s food, rent, water and electricity bills. The couple has one other child aside from Jaluag.

For those who want to help Jaluag, donations can be deposited in his mother’s BDO savings account (Sheryl Colina, account no. 0039-9040-6277). She can be contacted at 0922-4974155.

— STEPHANIE R. ASUNCION