Hand In Hand For Chanel!

Hello everyone! I am Alvin Wang, currently working as a pediatric occupational therapist in Metro Manila, Philippines. Sharing a little about my noble profession, occupational therapy seeks to genuinely help individuals with disabilities to be successful in and live life to the fullest by helping them perform their important and meaningful occupations in their everyday and future lives.

Becoming an occupational therapist whether here in the Philippines or elsewhere in the world entails years of hard work and dedication by learning important constructs from the science and arts. Personally experiencing how tough it is to be and to work as an occupational therapist, I know that we greatly contribute in making this world a better place to live in for individuals with disabilities.

But what if after years of hard work, struggles, obtaining your license and becoming a certified occupational therapist with a genuine heart to serve comes to a sudden halt? You are suppose to give life to others but unexpectedly, you are now the one who is in need of it.

Chanel is considered not just by me but as well as to her friends, colleagues, family and relatives as a God fearing, kind, generous and strong individual. Having met Chanel by being one of her batchmates during college and during grad school, I always thought how humorous and strong she was and how she continues to trust God despite all the adversities she experienced (we all do right) and she continous to experience in her life such as now wherein she is greatly being tested.

Chanel graduated wih the degree Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of Santo Tomas in the year 2014 (BSOT Batch 2014). Additionally, due to her dedication in serving her clients better, she also took Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy at the same university but unfortunately, she was not able to continue during her 1st year 2nd semester (s.y. 2015 to 2016) due to her condition starting to seriously act up.

Chanel currently has IgA Nephropathy (also called as Berger's disease) wherein a antibody lodges into the kidneys which results into continual inflammation. Continual or chronic inflammation of the kidneys is not good and will most probably lead to serious consequences including life threatening ones. For more information regarding the disease, you may refer to trusted scientific studies.

At a young age of 25, Chanel currently does continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis thrice (3) a day every eight (8) hours at the comfort of her home to filter her blood in order to stay healthy and strong. We all know that undergoing dialysis is serious and tiring. In addition, she needs to follow a strict diet and endure countless side effects (Cushing syndrome, insomnia, edema, mitral valve relapse, ulcer, brittle bones to name a few) of the medications she is currently taking.

Chanel has two choices at this point of her life regarding her health. To keep on undergoing dialysis or have kidney transplant surgery to help her live a good quality of life for the succeeding years. It was ultimately a tough decision for Chanel to choose the latter option after a lengthy process of decision making since undergoing surgery and transplant, as we all know, may also have serious risks involved. But because of her ultimate faith to God and due to her positive attitude, she is ready to take the risk and fight the good fight. Kidney transplant does not come easy financially. It involves a lot of process with its corresponding financial requirements such as tissue typing, the surgical process itself and the use of anti-rejection medicines. Can we help her fight the good fight? I know we can. Through our financial help, through prayer and trust to the Lord and through our support, Chanel will emerge victorious. There is no such thing as little help. We need all the help we can get to make this happen. Together, we will help Chanel.

To my occupational therapy colleagues here or anywhere else in the world, let us help a colleague regain her strength to stand up once again to change people's lives. To the UST community, let us help a fellow Thomasian continue her dreams and aspirations in life by a simple act of giving. To the readers whom Chanel, myself, her friends or relatives do not personally know, we are asking if you can give any amount for Chanel in order to help her but nontheless, we are already very thankful that you took time to read this letter. In behalf of Chanel and to all who loves her, thank you very much.

We will surely keep you updated about the progress of her treatment. Right now, she is undergoing series of tests including tissue typing which is very costly.

Important Notes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All donations can be made electronically with ease VIA direct credit card payment (Go Get Fund Me) or VIA paypal. On the paypal page, you may click the pay as guest button so that you don't need to create an account anymore. For payments VIA go get fund me, you can easily donate a minimum of 1$. I really intent to put donations in PHP amount but I realized that in order for Go Get Fund Me to work, I need to put the currency in dollars. My sincere apologies.

If you wish to directly deposit on her mother's bank account, you may do so at:
Savings Account 002610042260 Maribel Chua/Chanel Uy
BDO T. Alonzo Branch (Philippines)

Thank you very much. Let us journey with her towards her full recovery.