Bring Nerry Grace Home

Ever since my husband Jim and I lost our baby girl Luna Isabel in 2018, it's been our goal to honor her memory by helping babies that are in need. With the help of our parents and Kythe Foundation, we opened the Luna Isabel Magalona-Bacarro Playroom in Quirino Memorial Medical Center in 2018. On its first year, we were able to serve 2,831 children with the Child Life Program. Patients are able to play when they are given clearance, our coordinators also make time for children who are not able to visit the room. You may read up more on the Child Life Program here.

When Jim and I went to the 2019 Christmas party of Quirino Memorial Medical Center, we met Nerry Grace Adaro. She had just turned 7 years old days before we met her but she's almost on her second year of being confined in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of QMMC.

We met her mom Nely and she shared that Nerry Grace was born with complications due to prematurity including hydrocephalus. In April of 2018, she aspirated while drinking milk and she's been on a breathing tube ever since. She has been stable for a long time but her mom cannot take her home because they don't have a ventilator or breathing machine for Nerry Grace at home. They are purely in the PICU just so they can rent their breathing machine everyday. Their hospital bill is currently upwards of 2 million already.

Nely has a 1-year-old child that she leaves at home every single day because she is Nerry Grace's self-appointed personal nurse. She shared that she has been taught by the doctors and nurses how to care for her daughter so she is the one that facilitates all the meds and she doesn't bother the staff anymore.

Her hope is to take Nerry Grace home so that her family can all be together everyday.

In lieu of Christmas gifts for each other, Jim and I both decided to buy the ventilator for Nerry Grace so she can finally go home. Our friends from Kythe Foundation have been helping us coordinate with her mom.

Finally, last week, we received an update:

11:25 AM ng January 14, 2020, dumating yung installer ng Central Biomedical Services Philippines Inc. (supplier of the ventilator) para i-test yung ventilator na inorder natin para kay nerry grace. Ang kasama ko po ay si Ate Tin, dalawang doctor at respiratory therapist upang makita ang pag aayos at pagkakabit ng ventilator kay Nerry.

Nang matapos na pong ikabit kay Nerry Grace ang ventilator, inobserbahan po muna ito ng mga doctor at ng therapist kung makakayanan ni Nerry Grace pero ilang segundo lang ang tumagal po ay biglang nag-desaturate (Lower Oxygen Level) po siya sa kadahilanan pong hindi po kaya ng katawan ni Nerry Grace ang PVL102 (Volume Ventilator).

Ayon sa obserbasyon ng respiratory therapist ay hindi kaya ni Nerry Grace ang volume ventilator dahil daw po ang ginagamit ni nerry na ventilator [sa ospital] ay pressure ventilator. Ang pakakaiba ng pressure ay para sa mga Neo Pedia (infant to preschool ages) at ang volume naman po ay para sa Pedia Adults (school age and above).

Mungkahi ng therapist ay dapat po ang ventilator ni Nerry Grace ay pressure at volume machine upang kung magbago po ang pangangailangan ng katawan niya ay hindi na kailangan pang humanap at bumili pa ng iba at sabi din po ng therapist tutulong siya sa pag hahanap ng ventilator na may pressure at volume na kailangan ni Nerry Grace pero mas mahal daw po ito.

May mungkahi po yung supplier meron daw po silang HT-50 (Pressure Ventilator) na katulad na ginagamit ni nerry sa ospital po pero medyo mahal po, ito po ay nagkakahalaga ng 210,000 ayon sa installer.

Pagnahanap na po si nerry grace ng tugmang ventilator, susubukan po ito ulet kay Nerry Grace.

Jim and I have already sponsored Php100,000 for the initial ventilator but we are short Php110,000 to buy the correct machine. We are hoping that with your help, we can bring Nerry Grace home to her family in no time.

As I said, she had just turned 7 years old when we met her so her bed was decorated with balloons and other decor set up by the nurses who have fallen in love with her. Nerry Grace's hair was intricately braided in small sections by her mother and she had a nice big pink flower clipped atop her head. She has not been able to communicate much with her mother in almost two years but it's clear how much her mom wants to communicate to her daughter that she is loved. She is still here. She is not forgotten. Let's help bring Nerry Grace home.

(NOTE: We have permission from Nerry Grace's mother to share the photos used in this campaign)