Help us cover medical expenses for baby in Philippines
Fundraising campaign by
Belinda Jenkins
-
US$1,985.00raised of $2,500.00 goal goal
No more donations are being accepted at this time. Please contact the campaign owner if you would like to discuss further funding opportunities
Campaign Story
Mary-Jane Aquino-Mariano gave birth to a beautiful son, Lanz-Dhrei six weeks premature by emergency cesarean due to a medical condition called Preeclampsia.
Lanz-Dhrei was just 2 kg at birth and given his lungs were underdeveloped, he has been kept in an incubator to help him breathe and was fed by a tube.
Mary-Jane lives in the Philippines, which experiences considerable inequities in health care and high levels of out of pocket costs.
For over two weeks, Mary-Jane was at his side, but because her and her husband Vilmar couldn’t afford a hospital room, Mary-Jane was sleeping on the floor of the hospital corridors.
Mary-Jane and Vilmar have suffered considerable challenges around bringing Lanz-Dhrei home, as patients are often detained at hospitals in the Philippines until bills have been paid. Mary-Jane and her husband received temporary assistance from a relative who has provided a promissory note, and they have since taken Lanz-Dhrei home.
They will be back and forth from the hospital over the coming weeks. The financial burden and stress is taking it’s toll on Mary-Jane and Vilmar, as they have no savings or assets to mortgage.
So far the hospital bills have reached 142,000 peso, which is around USD$3025. They have insurance and are seeking government assistance, but it will only cover 30,600 peso, or USD$650, leaving USD$2,375 owing.
With no stable source of income they cannot meet the basic needs of hospitalisation and medication. Like many Filipinos, Vilmar was providing for his family by living and working abroad in Qatar. Last March, he returned to the Philippines to see his family. Vilmar is applying to go back to Qatar to finish his two year contract, but it is unknown when he will return due to processing delays.
Since then he has been working in construction locally, but earning significantly less. He is earning 250 peso per day, or around USD$5.30. This is only enough to cover their food each day. The family also has to supplementary feed their premature baby, and the special milk formula is 700 peso (three days salary) for one small box.
We have decided to start a crowdfunding campaign to raise the remaining money needed to assist Mary-Jane and her family. Our funding goal is to raise USD$2,500 to allow Mary-Jane and her family to pay their hospital and doctors’ expenses, and provide for ongoing hospital check-ups and medicine.
If you would like to help, you can make a donation via debit or credit card or through PayPal at the GoGetFunding website. All donations received will remain secure in the GoGetFunding eWallet, and funds raised will go directly to Mary-Jane in the Philippines.
Mary-Jane and Vilmar would be extremely grateful for any assistance as it will mean:
- Mary-Jane can focus on her milk supply and supplementary feeding without worrying about her baby’s health and the expense.
- Baby Lanz-Dhrei will get all the milk he needs to grow strong and healthy.
- Mary-Jane and Vilmar can pay back the money they borrowed and avoid the interest payments on that borrowing.
- Completely remove the burden and stress of escalating debt, for years to come.
Mary-Jane is the sister of Dinalyn, our Foreign Domestic Helper in Singapore. Dinalyn has been sending over her salary for medicine, but has two dependents of her own.
English version:
Tagalog version:
Organizer
- Belinda Jenkins
- Campaign Owner
Donors
- Anonymous
- Donated on Mar 31, 2016
- Leslie Sarma
- Donated on Mar 30, 2016
Last minute donations
Update posted by Belinda Jenkins at 07:49 amWe've had some inquiries as to whether we're still taking donations. We thought the most logical way of doing this, was to re-open the site for any 'last minute racers' out there! The site will be open for the weekend - thanks for your continued support.
An amazing achievement!
Update posted by Belinda Jenkins at 03:52 amMy personal thanks to you.I’ll be honest, I’ve had a few sleepless nights. When I first heard of the story of baby Lanz-Dhrei, I felt shocked and sad Mary-Jane was sleeping on the floor of the hospital after a cesarean. It speaks volumes of a mother’s resilience in adversity. Then. . . . .
Thanks for your offline contributions
Update posted by Belinda Jenkins at 01:20 pmSincere thanks to those of you who have made offline contributions. It really is a fantastic effort from the Nursing Volunteers and others to make this happen!
We've finally told Mary-Jane!
Update posted by Belinda Jenkins at 03:57 amThis weekend, Dinalyn took the news to her family about our crowd-funding campaign. Better than us describing how they feel, Mary-Jane has made a short video that she wants to share with everyone (includes English subtitles).If you haven't had a chance to donate, we have just four days to go!
Message from Dinalyn
Update posted by Belinda Jenkins at 04:51 amI thank everyone for your kind hearted donations. We are so grateful.I am so excited and can't wait to tell my sister all the help that we are receiving from all of you. This donation will help them a lot and they will be so thankful for your help. Thanks
Offline pledges
Update posted by Belinda Jenkins at 11:27 amWe realise that many people want to contribute, but can't online. The good news is that you can still contribute and we can add the amount raised offline to our online tally. Thanks to many of you for your pledges.
Great start!
Update posted by Belinda Jenkins at 12:50 amThanks to those people who have jumped on board early to donate. We've made a great start, but please spread the word. We have not told Mary-Jane that we are fund-raising yet, so stay tuned as we hope to let her know soon!
Donors & Comments
- Anonymous
- Donated on Apr 01, 2016
We are so glad to hear that Mary Jane and Lanz-Dhrei are doing well. Although born at 39 weeks, our son was in intensive care in a public hospital London for 3 weeks and it was such an emotionally exhausting experience. I can't imagine what Mary-Jane's family has had to go through dealing with the financial stress of it all. I hope the proceeds from this campaign leave them truly debt free so they can focus on getting back to their lives. Hats off to you Jay & Belinda for taking the time to help them. Smrithi xo
- Anonymous
- Donated on Mar 31, 2016
- Leslie Sarma
- Donated on Mar 30, 2016
- Anonymous
- Donated on Mar 30, 2016
- Anonymous
- Donated on Mar 29, 2016
- Katherine Lee
- Donated on Mar 27, 2016
- Melinda
- Donated on Mar 27, 2016
- Anonymous
- Donated on Mar 27, 2016
- Misae Sara Furugori Gonzalez
- Donated on Mar 26, 2016
Good luck nearly there!
- Rebecca Blackmore
- Donated on Mar 26, 2016
We are so glad to hear that Mary Jane and Lanz-Dhrei are doing well. Although born at 39 weeks, our son was in intensive care in a public hospital London for 3 weeks and it was such an emotionally exhausting experience. I can't imagine what Mary-Jane's family has had to go through dealing with the financial stress of it all. I hope the proceeds from this campaign leave them truly debt free so they can focus on getting back to their lives. Hats off to you Jay & Belinda for taking the time to help them. Smrithi xo