Tita Ely’s Hospitalization Fund

I made this GoGetFunding campaign with hopes of helping a good friend of mine, Paulo Morales. Let me share the ordeal he’s been going through for the past year.

January 2 2017, his mom was admitted to the ICU due to difficulty in breathing. Fast forward to two weeks (in the ICU), she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. She was immediately intubated because the CT scan showed that her main airway was just the size of a straw. She was immediately given her first round of chemo but it was ineffective. The doctors suggested radiotherapy. After 15 sessions (and two months in the ICU), tita acquired pneumonia as well as staph infections in her lungs. The result of her CT scan showed that the treatment did nothing to minimize the compression in her airways. At this point, the hospital bill was already at the 3 million PHP. The doctor then offered the last available treatment option- immunotherapy but each session will cost 300,000 PHP and this needs to be done every three weeks, indefinitely. Tita did not recover from the infections which led to her being dependent on the machine that was supporting her breathing. Today, they discovered that there's a blood clot in her blood vessels on her neck, which can lead to a stroke, requiring her to undergo an MRI scan. Every day, another problem seems to pop up. It's a never-ending cycle. Paulo had to make the heaviest decision of moving tita to palliative care – he tried all that he can to save his mom but with all the complications and the financial constraint for other possible treatments, palliative care will at least ease tita’s pain and make her remaining days comfortable.

Last August 2015, his dad suffered a stroke which left him bedridden for more than a year. He was also confined in the ICU for about a month. The bill was around 1.5 million plus a year of being bedridden (additional ~3 million). He passed away last November 6, 2016 due to complications.

I can’t imagine the pain he’s going through - to witness his parents deteriorate in front of his own eyes in a span of a year.

The stress of managing the finances both for him and his younger sister, preparing for the funeral of tita, and getting calls from the billing department on a daily basis regarding the running hospital bill and follow-up for the payment is not something a 20-year-old student can handle alone.

As of writing, the bill is already around 4 million PHP. The cancer has spread to the bones and brain already. With his dad's case and after 2 months of tita staying in the hospital, they are already left with nothing. Yesterday, I had to pay for the medicines of tita since they have no savings left. Pau and his sister are merely surviving from the help that his relatives and friends provide.

Ever since his mom was confined, he’s been there every day- before and/or after class. The hard part is that this is his last semester in college and this trial has definitely affected his performance in school. He’s usually left without any choice but to skip classes and thesis meetings to meet with the doctors, spend time in the hospital instead of studying, and worry about everything I can’t imagine handling on my own.

I am reaching out to my network: If you know someone who can help or if you can - in any way, please contact me via Facebook or email: [email protected]

You can also directly reach out to Paulo Morales

Email: [email protected]

You may also donate directly to the following banks:

BPI Family Savings:

Christian Paulo Morales

5996 4636 07

Or

BPI Savings

Mikee Chan

1899 6905 71

Any form of help will be greatly appreciated.