Help Zach Walk

Hi! I'm Therese Abegail R. Castaneda, a single mom and has a child with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy, his name is Reubenz Zachary Singian. Zach was born premature and weighed only 1 kilogram when he was born. He stayed in the NICU for two months and have survived it all. Zach went straight from NICU to eye laser treatment because of Retinopathy of Prematurity. Thank God the treatment was successful, and up to now, his vision is still clear. The family was so happy and eager to see Zach after 2 months of staying in the NICU, he had his usually month check-up and vaccines to his neo-pedia (Dr. Leonardo - one of the people that we are forever grateful because he gave us big discount when Zach was in NICU) and everything was all well until on his 4th month check-up, his pedia noticed that his feet are always in tip-toe, I was advised to have him checked up to a physiotherapist.

So I went on asking my Physical and Occupational Therapist friends, and Loyse came to see Zach, checked his feet and all and saw that both his feet are having tremors. She told me that I need to see a physiotherapist confirm her "diagnosis" that Zach has cerebral palsy and the tremors on his feet is called "clonus" - one sign if your child has possible cerebral palsy. And then came seizures, at first we thought Zach was just jolly goofing around and just stretching his arms all laughing. But one day, he went really like a "folding fan", and cries after. It's like he will suddenly be folding all his weight and see him like a "fetus inside a mom's womb" his position is literally like that if you'll imagine it and after he will cry. It went like every hour, every day, and his pedia advised us to have him see e pedia neuro. With all the tests done, the doctors from UST to where he was confined confirmed that my son has cerebral palsy, all tests were done, MRI, EEGS and everything. It was explained to me that his brain suffered from PVL (Periventricular Leukomalacia) - premature babies are prone to this injury.

From the day we knew that Zach has cerebral palsy, I just prayed that He would give me the strength no matter what. From 6 months old, I've been monitoring his seizure episodes, had his EEGs every time and thank GOD at age 6 we won his seizures. He's been doing physical and occupational therapy since he was 6 months old and now he'll be turning 13 in December.

We all know that PWDs here in the Philippines don’t have much privileged especially when it comes to medical assistance. With all the medical expenses we had from Zach's birth up until now, as a single mom, I often tend to be of short when it comes to his regular medical needs. I humbly ask a little help to sustain Zach's monthly physical and occupational therapies and all his other medical needs. I know my son and I still have a long journey ahead of us, but I do believe God has always been there for us since day 1 and He will continue to send us angels from earth to guide us in this journey.

Thanks, and please do help me pray for Zach that one day he will walk and even talk.

Please help us make the journey a not so challenging one :-)

For those who'd like to donate directly to Zach's bank account:

Account Name : Therese Abegail Castaneda

Bank Account : BPI 9709 0581 31