ITOGON, Benguet – Like many in their situation, two women from the mining camps of Itogon, Benguet do not know how they had gone this far in their life-time hemodialysis or blood-cleansing sessions that even patients with steady means can hardly maintain.
One of them, Erly Dumansi, a 36-year old mother of two, is now into her sixth year of coping with the prohibitive cost of undergoing thrice-a-week hemodialysis due to kidney failure.
The other patient, 22-year old Jemaima Gac-oy, was hooked to the dialysis machine last Monday when a relative asked that her appeal for support be also published to help her cope with the prohibitive costs of her own thrice-a-week dialysis .
“I hope you can again write about my situation so that Samaritans out there may know ,” Dumansi said last week when she came to ask that her appeal for help be aired for the second time through the local papers.
“I have no choice but to again seek support through the media outlets as my family had long ago exhausted the kindness of relatives and people we know,” she explained.
In a social case study report, social worker Grhendy Ann Codley noted “(Erly) is presently undergoing dialysis twice-a-week for almost six years, spending alsmot P5,000 a week, excluding (the cost of) other medicines prescribed by the attending physiscian”.
Erly’s husband, Rhyan, works as a pocket miner in Virac, Itogon, Benguet but has to stop now and then due to the poor health of his wife, the report said.
The couple and their two children, Christian, 16, and Kristin, 14, now depend on their parents and relatives for their daily needs, Codley noted.
People who can extend help may visit Erly during her dialysis sessions scheduled at 11 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at the BBraun Dialysis Center at the 4th floor of the CYA Centrum along Military Cut-0ff Rd. fronting the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC).
They may ring up the patient’s number: 09483466164.
Those who can reach out to Gac-oy may see her at the BGHMC dialysis center during her treatment sessions scheduled at 11 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
The girl admitted she had skipped her dialysis schedule several times now due to fund lack. A dialysis session costs a minimum of P2,200.
Should would-be donors fail to see her at the dialysis room when she has to skip a treatment session because of the prohibitive and continuing expense, they may call her cellphone number: 09091658295.
The patent, eldest of six children of a marginal miner, developed kidney failure in November, 2014, after she was hospitalized due to hypertension.
That forced her to quit college on her junior year to concentrate on how to sustain her thrice-a-week hemodialysis treatment.
“Ano mang tulong na maibibigay ninyo ay taus-puso naming ipagpapasalamat,.” she said in an appeal she scribbled from her hospital bed.
By Ramon Dacawi
