Janina Aira’s Battle Against ALL

Janina Aira’s Battle Against ALL

We humbly asks for your support in raising fund for the medical expenses of my cousin, Janina Aira, 26 years old, battling with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).

September 2020, Aira started to experience stomachache, vomiting, and headache. She went to the nearest clinic to be checked. They run some tests to her. That time, she was diagnosed with anemia with hemoglobin of 109 (reference 120-160) In addition, her wbc is above normal at 28.79 (reference 3.5-9.5) but her urinalysis and abdominal ultrasound were normal. There was no infection detected at that time. She was prescribed oral iron and antibiotics and was told that she might need blood transfusion if her hemoglobin stays low. After a week, her hemoglobin and WBC improved and she no longer experienced stomachache but she still had some headaches once in a while.

From October to December 2020, her headaches come and go, but she thought that it was just because of her monthly period. Also around that time, she started to lose weight. There were times that she had no appetite and choose to sleep instead after her work.

Fast forward to January 2021. Her headaches stayed for the whole month. She also experienced fatigue and shortness of breath with just climbing 10 steps of stairs. Around this time her father noticed that she looked pale but Aira thought that it’s just because she is fair skinned.

February 2021, her headaches worsened so as her appetite. She only eats one meal per day. She also feel so tired. When her rest day came, she decided to go to a clinic. Blood testing was again done and returned abnormal. Her hemoglobin was at 4.8 (reference 12-16) and her WBC increased to 143 (reference 4.5-11). Just by looking at the lab result, you already know that something is wrong. But what makes it more alarming is the initial diagnosis given by the clinic doctor which is leukemia.

Aira was referred to a hematologist. But was told that she can choose her preferred hospital or hematologist. Good thing is that her brother’s girlfriend is working in a hospital that’s why she was scheduled immediately for a checkup.

Morning after, together with her mother, they went to Infant Jesus Hospital. She was seen by the hematologist and had an emergent blood transfusion. Somehow, she felt better after the transfusion.

She was not admitted to her first hospital of choice. Instead, she was admitted to Providence Hospital and there, she had another transfusion. More lab tests were performed to know what type of leukemia she has.

February 16, the result was discussed by her hematologist. Along with this, the treatment was also discussed. Her hemoglobin, hematocrit, and wbc needs to be stabilized first. She was given another blood transfusion and some meds for her WBC.

While stabilizing these, she experienced blurring of eyesight on her right eye. She experienced this once or twice while in the hospital. Her hematologist was concerned if this is also part of her disease, so she was referred to a neurologist. Her neurologist performed lumbar puncture (a sample of cerebrospinal fluid was collected; CSF is the fluid that surrounds spinal cord and brain). This was done to know if her disease already spread to the brain and spinal cord.

While waiting for the result of lumbar puncture,

her platelets started to drop and needed platelet transfusion. But while waiting for available platelets, her liver enzymes started to increase. She was referred to a gastroenterologist. Her enzymes were observed while being given more vitamins for her liver.

February 25, the result for her lumbar puncture arrived. But the result returned positive, meaning there were cancer cells found in her CSF. Her hematologist discussed this to her and to her boyfriend. Her chemotherapy was delayed again because there’s some changes needed for her chemotherapy.

February 28, she now started her first chemotherapy. So far, she’s not feeling any side effects but we are told to expect side effects in the coming days or weeks. Her doctor discussed to us that Aira needed to stay to the hospital for at least a month for her first chemotherapy. Together with this, she still needs other medications, tests, and blood transfusions.

Unfortunately, we are not able to fund all the medical expenses of Aira. With this, on behalf of our family and friends, I am humbly asking for your help to support my cousin’s medical expenses. She has been by my side since we were little and shares everything that she has with me and always been there for me. She’s not only my cousin, she’s my best friend, my soulmate. Please, for once, help me do something for her.

We do not have a set goal for funding, but as of now we have a running hospital bill of almost P400,000. But any cost will be very much appreciated and can greatly help us.

Here are the details where you can send your help.

BPI Account Number:

6576513745

Irish Grafane Deloso

GCash:

09166369941

Irish Deloso

Thank you for taking time to read Aira’s story. Please help us share this post. Thank you in advance and Godbless.

#AiRadiateHope