A Second Chance at Life

My father, Arnold S. Ferdiz was diagnosed with an End Stage Chronic Kidney Disease in the same year that my mother died of Bone cancer—this is his story.

My dad has been undergoing dialysis for 10 years now and we are hoping to gift him a kidney transplant as a 10th year “anniversary” of celebrating his life.

My father was an active and a well-loved PE teacher at a school here in Cavite, Philippines and my mom was the school’s guidance counselor. I was still very young when they both had their illnesses that I can’t really understand at that time. All I knew is that somehow, when my mom had started to accept that her life would not last long—she conditioned me to still be a good daughter to my dad and to everyone else in our household. But just as mom was dearly holding-on for her life, my father was diagnosed with a kidney disease. It is just now that it sunk-in to me how hard mom and dad’s condition was at that time that both of them were sick—and how hard it is for my father to witness my mother’s passing away as he has his own sickness to carry. I even remember that during mom’s wake, there was a violent storm that made our hearts feel more empty—especially my dad, because of mom’s death. But with the help of good family, church, and close friends; we were able to go through the pain of mom’s passing….it still hurts though.

Life still has to go on, and my papa still has a life to fight for. For 10 years, he tries his best to make ends meet—to support my schooling and our daily needs…he even started a small business to help alleviate our finances, but is still not enough whenever he needs to go through dialysis thrice-a-week. It was to heavy for him to bear.

To extend help to papa’s condition, the school where he worked received me as a scholar. They even coordinated to put up events like Concert-for-a-Cause and Zumba-for-a-Cause just for my dad—to help him in his dialysis sessions. It touches my heart every time he would climb up the stage and thank all the people (his colleagues, his students and former students, and friends) for their love and concern for him. People would extend their hands in prayer asking God to bless him with strength and courage to continue living.

But still reality hits.

A dialysis costs 3000php/session (60USD) and he had to undergo 3 sessions (that is 180USD) in a week. To lower the cost, we availed of the PhilHealth’s assistance for dialysis patients. We are still thankful when some relatives and friends give small amounts of money to add to our expenses. But with our current condition, it is still a challenge for us where to get funds for my father’s daily maintenance (about 10USD/week) and for the times when he had to be brought to the emergency room when his BP shoots up. He even asked his doctor to allow him undergo dialysis on a twice-a-week basis to cut down on expenses.

There was this one time that my father was so depressed, he wanted to give up on life. Our relatives came to our house one night to visit and join us for dinner. They came with a family friend who is a pastor and prayed for him. The pastor asked him of what he wanted to happen—to go home in heaven already or fight for his life. It was that night when he resolved that he wanted to live and continue to fight. He believed that God still has a purpose for him. He believed that God would not allow him to live that long while undergoing dialysis, and still supply him with strength and enthusiasm to teach students.

In 2017, he had to undergo a surgery because the vein where his blood passes through for dialysis was already exhausted. If the operation can’t be done immediately, his heart might be affected because it already accumulated water which should not happen. It was another heavy situation for us to look for funds. WE have exhausted everything. Papa’s Philhealth were all used up, and we even borrowed some money from relatives and friends. The operation was successful though—but we still need to pay for the money we borrowed. Now, my father had to use his other arm to let the blood pass through for the dialysis sessions.

Right now, we are hoping for a kidney transplant for my father. His doctor already discussed the steps that we had to do. My father and his siblings already discussed who will donate a kidney for him. We are really praying that this would be the year when he had to stop doing dialysis and live a normal life.

This is the first time I tried to write to appeal for help for my father. I do not want to lose my father and wanted him to continue inspiring people. This is why I took this opportunity to ask for my father…to raise the money he would need for the kidney transplant, the doctor’s fee, the hospital bills, medication, etc. We might not be able to give back how much money you would give to help extend his life, but we promise to pay it forward to people who might need help in the future. My father and I are confident that God will multiply whatever help you would extend to us, and that your extended help would not be in vain.

May this be a 10th anniversary life gift for Papa.

Thank you very much and may God bless you a hundred fold.

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*** if you want to verify the validity of my campaign, feel free to message me/us through facebook and the following people so we can send you pictures of his medical records

*Pastor Paul Dela Cruz - Church By The Highway, AIM Pilipinas

*Pastor Grace Dela Cruz - Church By The Highway, AIM Pilipinas

*Gladish S. Nicanor

*Joyee Ferdiz

and if it's not too much to ask, you can send your help in his bank account so we can avoid paypal charges. Just message me and I will give you his details.

Again, thank you for giving my Papa A Second Chance at Life