Grace for Jace

This is Herbert Arden Jace Narisma, 2 years and 5 months old. He usually goes by the name "Jace" or "Herbie". He is a cheerful, playful, and witty kid. He is the source of the joy in our family. He is a biiiig fan of Thomas and Friends, Star Wars, The Avengers, and his recent favorite, TMNT.

There was a fundraiser for him last year managed by my sister (Here: https://assets.gogetfunding.com/pur-little-fighter-jace-needs-your-help/) But the stories and some of the images were either changed or removed. I decided to make a new one for security purposes.

Jace had blood in his poop last July 2015, we thought that it was just a lesion in his anus. But when the bleeding increased, we went to his pediatrician and told us that it was Ameobiasis. He was given antibiotics then it stopped for a while. But it went back after a week. We were then advised to consult with a Pedia-Gastro Intestinal Specialist who gave the same diagnosis and asked us to give the antibiotics again for a longer period. But it did not stop, there was still blood in his poop.

Around October, when we were having his check-up, the doctor noticed that he was pale. Jace was active but he was pale. We were asked to have his blood count checked, upon receiving the results, our doctor told us that we need to have him admitted immediately in The Medical City for blood transfusion. Then a lot of procedures followed. He underwent colonoscopy, RBC Tagging, Meckel’s Scan, and Exploratory Laparotomy. He was taken to the ICU twice: After the ExLap and after the RBC Tagging. All these and the doctors did not find anything. No idea where the blood is coming from, no diagnosis.

This was his 1st trip to the ICU after his Exploratory Laparotomy

2nd trip to the ICU after RBC Tagging

After two weeks, we transferred to St. Luke’s QC in the hopes of finding the cause of the bleeding and find some way to prevent it. He had an ultrasound and two more rounds of RBC Tagging. The doctor suggested to have him undergo Angiogram which is her last resort for Jace’s case. Not only is it pricey, it is also invasive for a child his age, so we decided to not push through with it yet. After that 4-week ordeal, we had no results, no diagnosis, no nothing. But he is still bleeding. We incurred around 1M in total for hospital bills.

Can't play with his two hands occupied by IV

After his discharge last November, he has had 5 hospitalizations after that, all for blood transfusion, since he is continuously losing blood. The worst blood count he had was when his hemoglobin dropped to a whooping 3.5 (The normal range is 12-14). Recently, he has been having blood transfusions more frequently, which is about every 3 week.

After his month-long stay in the hospital, we took him on a trip to Manila Ocean Park. He was already so pale that time but he really wanted to go.

These are photos from the different trips to the hospital for blood transfusions. He needed to be given oxygen to prevent his heart from being overworked.

So I decided to quit my job and focus on Jace and monitor him closely. At home, what we usually do every day is study, play, and eat. In between those, there will be cries for tummy ache. He will poop about 5-6 times a day and all of it with blood. His blood is never formed, always mucus-like and watery, there is always lumps of blood here and there. He doesn’t take any medication for the bleeding but he has supplements to help his body make up for the blood loss.

Apart from playing, Jace likes to color and write too. :)

Our recent doctor suggested that we could repeat the colonoscopy to check if the cause of the bleeding might show up this time. It may be a lesion in his colon, a polyp, or anything else. What we are praying really hard for right now is to find the source of bleeding, so the doctors will be able to treat and prevent it. But before doing that, we will be having another blood transfusion since his count is low again.

We are still settling a part of our 1M bill from people who we borrowed money from, our savings are used up with the blood transfusions Jace needed to have. We do not know what procedures are still to be done to search for the source of the bleeding, but we are praying that it be found during the 2^nd round of his colonoscopy.

Still bleeding but he still manages to smile and be goofy. :)

We are humbly seeking your assistance to help us fund his medical bills and hopefully find a cure to his rare case. We appreciate any amount of help you can give for Jace and we will forever be grateful. We would also appreciate your prayers for him, that the doctors will find the source of the bleeding and be able to treat it, and that there will be no more pain, bleeding, and hospitalizations for Jace.

For other ways to donate, kindly text/viber me at 09173024628 or email me at [email protected]. You can also message me on Facebook. Thank you so much and God bless your hearts.