Roger Chavez Lung Cancer Fundraiser

Dear friends and family, the beloved papa of sisters Odette and Noemi, turning 72 years old in December, has been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and the family is in dire need of support, prayers and financial assistance to help cover hospital bills and ongoing medications and palliative care.

Papa Roger suffered from a massive stroke in 2017 that, with God's grace and mercy, he survived and recovered from. He has been generally in good spirits through the years, with on and off cases of pneumonia during the covid deason which he has coped with the help of the vaccine.

On 15 November 2021, however, the family was alarmed at Papa Roger's weakened appearance and loss of appetite, which prompted him to be rushed to the hospital. The family was shocked and heartbroken to hear of the lung cancer diagnosis. This is Odette’s account of the day they learned of her papa’s serious condition:

“…..Stage 4 Lung Cancer.

His difficulty in breathing was due to water accumulation and retention being caused by the cancer mass (bukol).. The doctor suggested chemo as the only procedure to take but she is not sure if it can still be successful...

Our family no longer agreed for the chemo, nor we agreed to have him intubated... Papa is already weak... Subjecting him to such procedure would only weaken him and would only cause him more pain ... As per the doctor, it was a good decision...

Papa wants to go home.. The doctor also agreed that he should go home.. we just need to visit the hospital every week to drain the fluids from Papa's lungs, which will cost us around P20,000 per session which also includes xray and ultrasound...

If we can come up with the money amounting to more or less, P250 thousand pesos (P250,000.00) to pay for the hospital bill, we can take him home... It is Papa's wish now... to be home.

We need prayers and financial help to sustain his medical needs... We still want to celebrate Christmas and his birthday and New Year with Papa..."

Odette and Noemi have been graciously trying to shoulder the medical expenses on their own. Odette has been pensive about asking for help as she’s fully aware of how tough these times are...

“……ayaw ko din sanang dumagdag sa troubles nyo kase life is hard for each of us... pero sa mga makakatulong, maraming maraming salamat...”

This fundraiser is the collective effort of Odette and Noemi’s friends to help ease the family’s ordeal. The family is in dire need of support, prayers and financial assistance to help cover hospital bills, ongoing medications and palliative care.

On top of providing day to day personal and living care and the emotional stress, the family is faced with mounting medical and hospital bills to pay for with limited amounts of money to try to cover expenses. The cost of Papa Roger's weekly monitoring and draining of fluid from the lungs is P20,000.00 per session, his medicines and special milk diet is P7500/week, and his tube feeding (through his nose) costs P361/day. These three items alone is too much to handle.. Doctor’s professional fees have been estimated to be P25000per specialist. He has 3 specialists looking after him. An anti-bedsore or an alternating pressure bed will also aide in facilitating the best care possible for his medical condition. This is estimated to be approximately P3900.

It is projected that he will require P300,000 or more throughout his ordeal, if that. It will be greatly appreciated if you can extend your generosity to help defray the medical costs from his stay in critical and acute care, as well as the ongoing care post hospitalization.

Papa Roger is a loving husband, a devoted father to his children and grandchildren, and all who know and have experienced his presence can attest to his gentle heart and beautiful soul. Please pray for his recovery, as we believe in God’s grace and mercy. No amount is too little. The family could use all the help they could to get through this extremely difficult time.