Please help me in my battle against cancer

Good day!

I am Aileen Opinion Turla-Base, 39, married, from Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines.

In 2017, i was diagnosed for stage 2B breast cancer. I have undergone series of treatments from mastectomy, chemo, radiation, and herceptin. Unfortunately, these were not enough to eliminate all the cancer cells.

In April 2019, result of pet scan confirmed metastatic breast cancer that spreads to my lungs, lymph nodes and back of my neck. They labelled it as Stage 4. Now, the onco wanted me to undergo another treatment protocol called perjeta + herceptin + chemo, in 18 cycles.

We asked help from Roche Philippines to subsidize this under their Patient Support Program and it was granted. However, we still need to shell out from my own pocket more or less 2.5 Million Pesos for this treatment protocol alone, not to mention the expenses for laboratories, doctors’ fees, hospital bills, and other incidental fees.

I am a government employee here in the Philippines. Unfortunately, we, the working class, has a very limited access to medical assistance from government institutions. I have already availed the help of PCSO during my first treatment, and we intend to ask it again this time; however, the assistance that they give is a mere small fraction of the amount I need for my medication, aside from the fact that if approved, it will be given to you months later than the scheduled infusion.

I am the breadwinner of the family, with 4 minor dependent children aged 16, 12, 6, & 5. My husband also works for the government, but with a low salary too. Our meager incomes only shoulder our living expenses.

Needless to say, ours is a situation where we could not imagine where to get funding for my medical expenses. I survived my first series of treatments by borrowing money from kind relatives and friends. It’s so sad that we are not yet done paying them when my cancer recurred, this time, fiercer, more aggressive.

My onco advised me to act and schedule my first infusion the soonest time possible, because in this fight, time is of the essence. Cancer cells are treacherous thus, we need to deal with them head on. But with lack of funding, I could not even give specific date to give my onco a go signal. Sadly, 2 months had already passed since my diagnosis of recurrence but I am yet to start my treatment due to lack of financial means.

We earnestly hope that by the first week of July, I may be able to raise at least P250,000.00 to cover the following:

Perjeta - P166,000.00

Chemo - P50,000.00

Plus hospitalization and doctor’s fee, among others.

This is the amount that I need to raise every 21 days until I reach 18th cycle.

Thus, I am knocking at your hearts, on bended knees, to please, please, help me get my proper treatment on time to save my life.

I beg you my dear fellows, I still want to live. My family needs me. I long to see my children growing up and reaching for their dreams.

My oncologist is Dr. Charity Gorospe, and you may reach her at Delos Santos Medical Center and St. Lukes-Quezon City, for verification.

Whoever has a kind heart who wish to help me in this fight against this dreadful illness, you can make a deposit on the following account:

BDO S/A No: 2390309158

Account Name: AILEEN O. TURLA-BASE

BDO A. Mabini, Caloocan Branch

Thank you very much.

God bless you all

Sincerely yours,

Aileen