For Our Brother’s Major Surgery

Justine, our only brother, is 20 years old, and last year, he was hospitalized twice for constant diarrhea, missing school and not acting normally. His colonoscopy report showed that he has Crohn's Disease. Since then, he stopped going to school and stayed at home with a restricted diet and medications.

According to the MayoClinic.org website, Crohn's Disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It causes swelling of the tissues (inflammation) in your digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss, and malnutrition.

Late last year, his most recent hospitalization showed that his colon has acute inflammation and excessive abscess

He was given various medications, however, his condition continued to deteriorate keeping him from walking, sleeping, or doing any other function that a normal person would do.

He was brave enough to endure all pain. He did not complain to anyone in the family although our 66-year-old mother would hear him cry at night and he would barely sleep. He is kind and obedient and he always wants to make sure he put others' needs first before his.

Our mom is enduring high blood pressure and diabetes and had a stroke last year and our dad passed away from cancer 4 years ago. These deeply affected our brother but he battled depression and anxiety quietly.

Last month, our mother was hospitalized due to the effect of a stroke and as a close-knit family, my siblings and I have been pulling our resources together to help my mom and my brother's hospitalization and their other medical needs.

However, we are again challenged as a family because our brother's condition has never improved but rather deteriorates aggressively. His doctors labeled his disease as a rare and severe one. He has been in the hospital for a week now and he needs a COLOPROCTECTOMY PROCEDURE where his colon and rectum will be removed. This is a life-changing procedure for him but we are hopeful that this surgery will finally give him an opportunity to have almost a normal life, go back to school, have a career, and eventually have his own family.

The COLOPROCTECTOMY PROCEDURE alone will require at least PhP 300,000 Philippine Pesos or $6,000. As of this writing, he has been in the hospital for a week. His hospital bills are also accumulating. We need to raise PhP 500,00 or $10,000 to cover all his medical needs. So we appeal to your generous heart for any financial aid you can extend for our brother's medical needs.

Thank you for reading this post and we deeply appreciate you sharing this story.