Support Bobby’s Maintenance Medications

Hi everyone! I am Justine Viriña, the daughter of this campaign’s beneficiary. My brothers, Jay and John, and I would like to knock on your hearts and humbly ask for your help. Personally, it took us time to be courageous enough to push this campaign for our dad's continuous post-operation maintenance and further medications.

Beneficiary:

This campaign is for our dad, Jose Roberto Prado Viriña, 52 years old. He used to work as a Liaison Officer at a shipping agency in Manila, Philippines. With his kindness and selfless love, he became the provider of not only his family of five, but also of his mother. He is a very active person who loves eating, cooking, driving, and doing household chores. In 2016, he was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer, which led him to lose his voice and retire early. Amidst of all these challenges, he's still fighting strongly.

Background:

September 2015

• Our dad underwent a successful operation of Thyroidectomy. It was a joy to him because he knew that he fought bravely to prevent further complications.

April 2016

• He experienced difficulty in breathing and felt that he is easily burnt out even he is not doing anything.
• Again, another successful operation was done – Tracheostomy.

June 2016

• After series of check-ups and further monitoring on his medical condition, he went for Suspension Laryngoscopy with Biopsy of tissue.
• Diagnosis: Advanced Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Neck. In his case, his larynx (voice box) was also affected.

July 2016

• He underwent another successful operation of Total Laryngectomy with Bilateral Dissection. With God's healing hands, he survived the 14-hr operation. The operation made him unable to speak and eat. His feeding will not be through his mouth but through NGT (Nasogastric Tube).
• During his recovery in the hospital, the doctors noticed that his creatinine became higher than normal range. As advised, he went Hemodialysis for 12 sessions.

Mid-September to October 2016

• He did radiation therapy as a treatment.

May 2017

• The CT Scan with contrast was done,as a result, tumor is found around the esophagus. As advised by the doctor, the NGT will be then replaced by G-Tube for his feeding because in the future, the tumor might block the passage way of the NGT.

June 2017

• He underwent for G-tube operation for his feeding successfully.

August 2017

• He went for Head and Neck Rehabilitation Therapy to help this move his shoulder and arm muscles.

Indeed, another health milestone, God has shown light to us especially our dad who bravely faced all the operations and treatments. He became stronger and was slowly recovering from all the challenges he has encountered.

The team of doctors who monitored our dad's journey and helped us through this time were ENT Consultant Doctors, Endocrinologist, Oncologist, Nephrologist, Radiologist, and Dietician. These doctors are from Medical Center Manila, San Juan de Dios (Hemodialysis), Chinese General Hospital (Radiotherapy) and Ospital ng Maynila. Fortunately, our father is enrolled to a health service provider which was a big help since it has covered most of the expenses for all operations and treatments. Without the doctors’ and health provider’s unending support and constant reminder to our dad, it would have not been easy for us to cope with these challenges and deal with our dad’s condition.

Current Situation:

Now, due to all the operations and treatments that he had been through, he is physically, mentally, and emotionally weak. He is currently experiencing passing out for quite some time, severe headache, muscle pain, shoulder/neck stiffness, hyper acidity and nausea (even sinusitis). All these are effects of the radiation therapy.

Early this year, he went for Cranial MRI and Whole Abdomen MRI, both results were fine. A month ago, he had a CT Scan with contrast. The result showed that there is a tumor in the esophagus. The doctor explained that we have the option to have the tumor biopsied to further examine it and to see what other areas might possibly be affected (lungs, brain, or bone). He further explained that the only treatment is chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, the doctor did not advise this, and did not give any assurance on the procedure and treatment because it will depend on our dad’s body reaction. Agreed with our dad, we opted not to go through the biopsy and treatment. Also, doctors suggested to our dad some precautions such Gastric Feeding Tube (which they will be placed in the stomach for his feeding). This is because the tumor might block the ways of the NGT which may cause infections and hard time for him to eat sooner or later. So we decided to proceed with G-tube operation which happened last June 2017. Our father’s operation was successful and that he was able to survive the pain as well. He promised that he will keep up his faith and fight on every single day. Also, we do believe God's plan is better than us and his miracles do happen everyday.

Today, he still feeds through his G-Tube. His food intake are as prescribed below:

• Abbott’s Prosure– 380g/can
• Nestle’s Nutren Optimum (Adult Nutritional Milk Supplement in Powder)– 800g/can

In terms of his maintenance medications are the following:

• Folic Acid with B Complex - given 2 tablets twice a day
• Calcium Carbonate/Calsan – given 3 tablets thrice a day(after meal)
• Myonal - given 2 tablets twice a day
• Rocatrol Vitamin D - given 2 tablets twice a day
• Piracetam(Nurocer) – 800mg/tab – given 1 tablet a day
• Valporic Acid – 500mg/tab – given 1 tableta day
• Levothyroxine – 50mg/tab – given 1 tablet an hour before breakfast

In case he experienced severe headache which is unbearable, doctors prescribed to take:

• Paracetamol + Tramadol - given 1 table every 8 hours per day

These are the post operation maintenance and further medication costs which estimated of PHP 30,000.00 monthly.

During this time, our dad is very grateful because of his family, especially our mother, who is always there to take care of him through this time. Our mother is currently on indefinite (unpaid) leave just to take care of my dad in his everyday needs. Our dad relies on his pension for his maintenance medication. His savings and retirement pay was already used up on his previous operations and treatments. Come this August 2017, my mother has to go back to work since her employer has advised her to work again because she has been off work for more than 2/3 of the year. This decision has been hard for us because this mean as well an additional cost to hire a medical nurse who will be my father's companion for his therapy and everyday routine needs. The cost would be approximately around P 25,000 monthly.

Without any obligations, we, their children, try our best to provide financial and physical support as much as we can as well. My eldest brother, Jay, a hearing impaired since birth, works in a food and beverage company. He works on a ‘no work, no pay’ basis. So when our mother needs him to accompany her in taking care of our dad, his earnings is not enough to support himself and our father need. My youngest brother, John, works as a graphic designer. He, on another hand, is preparing financially since he will soon have his first child. Me, as a contractual OFW, have been a provider to our family’s needs especially when our dad was in and out of the hospital for a couple of times. Most of the time, we are struggling financially because our financial status is not enough to cover all the expenses for our dad’s condition. We are fortunate that the health service provider has been generous to us in all the hospitalization costs. However, our family finances are not enough to cover the cost of post-operation maintenance and further medications. We are positive that this campaign is truly a great help to our dad’s medical condition. We humbly ask for your unending support to our family during this time. No small amount of time, money, medical donation and support is too small. Every cent, effort and prayers offered will be a BIG part of our dad’s continuous post operation maintenances and further medications. We, especially our parents, are truly blessed with such good support system – our grandparents, relatives, friends, colleagues, and strangers who have helped us through these life challenges since last year. Again, we would like to express our sincerest gratitude to you who took time to read our story and especially our dad’s challenges.

Constant update on our dad’s challenges and campaign fund will be posted here.

Donation Options: Donations in other currencies are accepted on this site. Just put the Philippine Peso amount you would like to give and the site will convert it to your currency. Debit/Credit Card - Visa or Mastercard are accepted. All options are available on the payment page.

*********To donate directly to my parent's bank account, please see below**************

Name of bank: Bank of the Philippine Islands(BPI)

Bank Branch: Vito Cruz - St. Scholastica (Branch Code: BR00277)

Joint Account name: Jose Roberto Prado Virina/Julieta Miso Virina

Account #: 2779-1315-59

Alternative PayPal Link Me: paypal.me/bobbythesurvivor

Please send me a message after making a deposit or wire transfer so I can let my parents know its from you. Email me at: [email protected]/[email protected]/[email protected] or use the message link on this campaign site.