HELP DADA WALK AGAIN

Harrie or Dada as people fondly call my dad, was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in 2013. He underwent a prostatectomy on the same year. After the successful operation, my dad was left with medicines to take and follow ups.

In June 2014, he had another procedure just to scrape off where his prostate was removed since there was a time he couldn't pee. And the reason was, there's a very small wound (as small as a tip of a pen) that blocked the way where the urine passes. He was even allowed to undergo that procedure without a Cardiologist since his heart is very healthy - no hypertension. That was also a success and he was left with the usual medicines, injection every 3 months (for hormones), PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test and follow-ups. The tests were negative of cancer.

Fast forward to 2016.

In February 2016, his PSA started to increase. Bone scan was immediately done to detect osseous metastasis and conclusion was no evidence. So he was still negative of cancer.

In May 2016, his PSA was still increasing so the doctor requested for an MRI. The result showed that there's a prostatic bed mass and it's considered as a tumor recurrence. We were told that Dada should undergo radiation therapy.

After weeks of planning, he finally started his radiation treatment from July 11-September 6,2016. That's a total of 39 days of treatment from Mondays-Fridays - no weekends. He would go on his own most of the time since he really can. Third or fourth to the last treatment day, he went to the ER instead and not do his treatment because he suddenly couldn't pee (again!). First time he experienced that was in January 2014. Catheter was inserted and he was all good. He finished his last days of treatment with a catheter on and have it removed after almost 2 weeks. The radiation oncologist advised him to have his PSA tested after a month.

After a month, his PSA was still increasing. His urologist advised him that he’d be using second level of medicines/injections. He started his new injection in November 2016 and he has to do it every month. Second injection was in the second week of December 2016.

It was also in December of 2016, after Christmas when he suddenly had a hard time walking but couldn't understand why since he wasn't feeling any pain. But everything happened so fast. From having a hard time walking to can't stand on his own that he needed walking crutches. This all happened in Dumaguete so we decided to bring him back to Manila before New Years.

He was confined for 10 days. He had several doctors and several tests. Findings were: he has spine compression (that's why he suddenly couldn't walk), they saw a mass (that's why his back hurts) and fractured bones in his spine (he got this from helping him to sit/stand). Doctors said, there are 2 options--- radiation or surgery. His neurologist explained both options. For radiation, it'll just shrink the mass but his spine won't get the support it needs since the mass is in his spine. For surgery, they'll install a titanium rod in his spine and make sure that it's secured before they can remove the mass.

Our family, including my dad decided to choose surgery over radiation as the next treatment since that’s the best option but unfortunately, it’s too expensive and we honestly don’t have extra funds for him to undergo surgery right away as we are also funding his current medications to battle prostate cancer as of the moment.

With that said, I made this fundraising site for Dada and for people who want to help him. I’ve set the funding goal to $10,100.00 or Php 500,000 because that’s how much the surgery costs according to the doctors.

If you wish to donate offline, here are our bank details:

BANK: Bank of the Philippine Islands

ACCOUNT NAME: Priscilla Monina P. Ruiten

ACCOUNT NUMBER: 0466-3207-37

ACCOUNT TYPE: Savings

CONTACT DETAILS: [email protected]

----------------------------------------------------------------

BANK: BDO (Dumaguete Branch)

ACCOUNT NAME: Hendrikus Ruiten

ACCOUNT NUMBER: 003-400-356-691

ACCOUNT TYPE: Savings

Any amount will surely be a huge help for Dada and we thank you for your support. God Bless!