A Gift for a Gift

(by Shy Baquiano)
(jon bayogan's note: "A Gift for A Gift" was a variety show done by my colleagues and students at the Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology in Mati, Davao Oriental. The purpose of the show was to raise funds for Yam. It wasn't a coincidence that this show was done on Yam's second day in the hospital. It wasn't also by chance that a cross-section of the community was involved. Several things were achieved through this show and similar fund-raising activities done in the community. My family is very grateful for the community's kind, compassionate and generous gesture.)


Mati, Davao Oriental, September 15, 2006. We are so thankful to God for a very successful variety show entitled A GIFT FOR A GIFT. We started a little later than 7:00 oclock, with not much people present yet. While the show was going on, more and more came. I'd like to believe that people thought we would start at about 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock that's why they came late. The Mati Socio Cultural Center was about 85% filled with people. Tickets were sold at P10 (for high schoolers), P20, P100, P500, and P1,000.

A lot of people in the community actually helped make the show the success that it was. Like the CLS (Christian Learning School, under the leadership of Pastor Eugene Lopez) for instance. Selected students of CLS presented several numbers. Lorna Paulican's daughter, LA, also a student of CLS, played an important role in the show. Another one, the daughter of Dr. Flores, played the violin (The Warrior is a Child).

The different churches in town also helped by promoting the show in their churches as well as allowing us to borrow LCD projector, amplifier, etc. These are Pujada Bay Community Church, JIL, Faith Tabernacle. DOSCST lent us 200 chairs and a vehicle that we could use to ferry materials and equipment.

The members of Pagdungawan Theatre Guild, DOSCST state modifiers, doscst chorale, and my psych 10 students were the main performers. All these groups gave their all for the show. doscst Kwadro made the backdrop. There were 4 paintings all in all. These four paintings could be put together also and maging one big painting din siya. Several people made a bid for the painting. I do not know yet who eventually got it and at what price.

Several people in doscst helped us with this and that. A lot people in the community also bought tickets or just donated money and did not come to the show na. The funny thing was, there were several who came to me AFTER the show to buy tickets! and they really did.

A lot reported that they were so touched and many cried. Isn't that great, don't you think? We are now on the process of counting our "loot" (hehe) and as soon as we have the report completed, we will send them to you. It is our ardent hope that even in this little way, we could be of help to you and your family. especially to Yam.

A kid’s battle, a Cordilleran’s heart

by Ramon Dacawi

(SunStar-Baguio, Monday, September 11, 2006)


SENIOR citizen Harry Basingat marked his birthday inside a bank last Friday. He counted money which he wired for a 10-year-old girl who will most likely spend hers in a hospital.
Monday morning, Yam Bayogan, who will turn 11 on October 18, will have her plane ride, a short, one-and-a-half hour flight from Davao to Manila flight.The girl’s appointment with doctors at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center will still be on Tuesday yet.

But she needs time. For rest and priming up hope. And for prayers before her decisive battle against cancer starts.The disease, diagnosed last May yet, is hardly for kids. It attacks mostly adults aged 65 and over. Acute myelogenous leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, is rare among children. Acute because it develops fast.

It took sometime for her parents - Jonathan and Emma Ruth Bayogan and her older siblings John, 23; Joseph, 21; and Janice, 14 - to stop asking why it had to be Yam. Acute. Early on, the teacher-couple knew the disease develops fast. Time is running out. Early on, they were told a bone marrow transplant increases the prognosis up to 80 percent at her age and condition.

Early on, they were told the procedure would cost between P2.5 to P3 million.Jonathan turned to the Internet for help. Basingat, an Igorot expatriate in El Monte, California, is still mourning the death of his wife Mary. When he heard Yam's plight, he posted it on his bibaknets@yahoo.com Internet site and on igorot-IGO@yahoo.com.

“This is just an added push for the plea,” he wrote members of the two websites. “Yam is hanging on to dear life.”Harry admitted his wife’s recent passing on gave him a different perspective about life and death. “I seem to have grasped the real meaning of death. Something that I ever believed in my past life - and that is, death is not something to fear when you think you have satisfied your purpose and believe that you have made the most out of it.”

Yam’s relatives in Tadian, Mt. Province, other Igorots and Cordillerans from all over responded.“With God’s amazing grace through you - her army of benefactors, supporters, prayer warriors, friends and relatives, she will conquer this disease, then go on to live the normal life that we all desire for here,” Jonathan e-mailed last week.Yam, an honor pupil who writes as Eunice Joy in her quizzes, will begin her medication on Sept. 14.

She will be admitted on September 17 for another round of intensive chemotherapy prior to the bone marrow transplant.John, her donor-brother, will start his medication for stem cell on September 20. Transplant will be on September 25. She will be in the hospital for six weeks.Post-transplant check-up will be weekly for 100 days. Most likely, she’ll mark her birthday in the hospital.“So Yam and her Mommy Emma will stay nearby until early (next) January,” Jonathan said. “Daddy Jonathan stays until the end of September then goes back to work, (visiting) now and then.”Jonathan and Emma taught for years at the Benguet State University before moving to Davao. Emma now teaches at the University of the Philippines-Mindanao, while Jonathan is on his last year as president of the Davao Oriental State College in Mati.

While the hospital schedule has been firmed up, Jonathan’s family still needs all the help people can share, including fund support.“While we discuss myriad of matters in the warmth of our respective “dap-ays”, let’s lend a hand to this kid out there shivering in the cold,” Makati-based lawyer Harry Paltongan wrote Cordillerans early into Yam?s fight.

Meanwhile, Edwin Abeya, past president of Bimaak, the group of Cordillerans now based in Washington, D.C., greeted Basingat on his birthday with a poem. “Ski for Yam, ski for the needy/So we may share our blessings daily/Remind us every now and then/Of our friends who are downtrodden,” it said in part.

Abeya however wondered and so told the celebrant. “How can you be 52 as Padi says when you were three grades ahead of me in elementary and I’m 57?”Padi seems to be Anglican priest Tony Gomowad. He, too, wired his greetings with a list of humanitarian efforts that Basingat helped steer - educational fund assistance to orphans, scholarships and now the drive for Yam-s medical deliverance. (Ramon Dacawi)

PCSO, UP come to the aid of UPMin prof’s daughter

UP Newsletter Volume xxvii Number 09 2006-09-01
by Jo. Florendo B. Lontoc

UP Mindanao (UPMin) professor Emma Ruth Valdez Bayogan and her husband Jonathan, a school administrator of Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology, did not expect that UP would be instrumental in getting government support for their child’s treatment for leukemia.

The young Bayogan had everything going for her. The loving and lively 10-year-old, the youngest of four siblings, was a consistent honor student. Then she was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, the kind of leukemia that normally afflicts adults. She began undergoing intensive chemotherapy sessions as early as May this year but her doctors made it clear that the child’s real hope lay more in a bone marrow transplantation.

Luckily, her older brother was a perfect match. Money was the only obstacle to the treatment. The stop-gap measures against their daughter’s illness had already caused her to lose her hair and depleted the family’s finances. There was no way the family could afford the transplantation which would cost two to three million pesos. As government employees, the parents made just enough for their daily needs.

They first sought the help of friends and colleagues through e-groups. Then, as early as July, they sought the help of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in Davao City, even getting a series of endorsements from congressmen and a politician for their request for assistance. The couple did not know that, having gone the roundabout way, the major breakthrough in their quest for support would come from the very top ranks of PCSO itself upon the endorsement of the UP President, whose help the couple did not directly seek.

The couple said that, based on what they gathered from email messages, their e-mail somehow found its way to an e-group in the United States, where Cesar Torres, a former UP professor, found it imperative to bring the matter up to UP President Emerlinda R. Roman. President Roman then called on UPMin Chancellor Ricardo de Ungria to brainstorm on what UP could do to help. She thought that the University could help the Bayogans get assistance from the PCSO.

Chancellor de Ungria then had the Bayogan couple complete another set of the PCSO requirements, turned them over to President Roman, who then wrote an endorsement letter to accompany the Bayogans’ request for assistance. She had the documents submitted to the PCSO immediately, then followed them up by phone. This was late August.At the PCSO, one of the directors happened to be Honorable Teresita Gonzales, daughter of UP Regent Nelia Gonzales.

She took the UP request, and knowing that time was of the essence in this case, presented it at once to the rest of the directors of the PCSO. According to her, the PCSO normally required only a letter of request, an original medical abstract of the patient indicating the doctor’s license number, and estimated costs of the operation or an original of the medical prescription. But financial assistance for such a large amount needed Board approval. Director Gonzales made the presentation to the Board on September 6, only a week after President Roman’s endorsement.

In UPMin, the student group Koro Kantahanay was, on that date, about to start a benefit concert for the young Bayogan. (Earlier, Chancellor de Ungria had written a memo calling for a fund drive for the girl, the UPMin College of Science and Math students had had a fun run fund drive, and the UP Horticultural Society had also had their own fund drive.) While waiting for the choir performance, Prof. Bayogan received a personal call from President Roman herself who gave her the good news: the PCSO Board had just approved their request for help.

On September 9, the Bayogans and their daughter flew to Manila, where the only three hospitals that perform the bone marrow procedure are located. On September 13, they met the directors of PCSO, led by Director Teresita Gonzales and Chairman Sergio Valencia, at the PCSO headquarters in Quezon City. The Bayogans would be given a guarantee that provided the Bayogans enough to rest from fund-raising for a while to spend more time with their daughter.

Girl needs P3 million for marrow transplant

by Ramon Dacawi
(SunStar-Baguio City, August 15, 2006 issue)

RECENT medical tests showed that 23-year-old John Bayogan is fit as a donor for a bone marrow transplant to save Yam, his 10-year-old sister, from a form of cancer rare among children.Faced with the all-too-common financial snag, their parents are not giving up. Money is not a problem. It is the answer, and they don't have it. The amount is between P2.3 million to P3 million, as quoted from a doctor at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center.

Jonathan and Emma Bayogan, both teachers, have to raise the money fast. Yam, their youngest of four kids, was diagnosed last May with acute myelogenous leukemia, a form of cancer of the blood and bone marrow. It is acute because it develops fast, and time is running out for the girl.Jonathan, over the past weeks, has been getting in touch with his relatives in Tadian, Mountain Province.

He has written friends through the Internet. His appeal for help has been reposted on bibaknets@yahoo.com and Igorot-IGO@yahoogroups.dotcom,the website of Igorot expatriates."This is just an added push for the plea," Harry Basingat, who administers Bibaknets, told members. "Yam is hanging on to dear life," he said.Lawyer Harry Paltongan said: "While we discuss myriad of matters in the warmth of our dap-ays, let's lend a helping hand to this kid out there shivering in the cold.

"When told what was afflicting Yam, Jonathan and wife Emma Ruth simply couldn't understand. They kept asking questions parents have all the right to ask. Why? And why her?AML, also called acute myblastic leukemia, acute leukemia, acute granulocytic leukemia and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia, are not common among children. It attacks mostly adults aged 65, and others.

"We couldn't understand how a bubbly, intelligent and beautiful girl can be stricken with such disease," Jonathan wrote to friends. "Eerie thoughts crept, including thoughts that our daughter is dying."

Yam, Eunice's joy in class, is an honor pupil but didn't enroll this school year to undergo chemotherapy and - if funds could be raised - bone marrow transplant. Her long, black hair is almost gone."Doctors claim that bone marrow transplant should be the first option at curing leukemia and not a last recourse," Jonathan said. The process greatly increases the prognosis to up to 80 percent at her age and condition."We called up persons we didn't even know but who have undergone or undergoing the same plight," Jonathan said.

He also checked with hospitals and patients who underwent the process to give him idea of the costs.The figures stunned him and Emma. "While both of us parents are employed with the government, the nature of our daughter's illness has already depleted our financial resources."

Jonathan is on his last year as president of the Davao Oriental State College in Mati, Mindanao. Emma teaches at the University of the Philippines (UP)-Mindanao in Davao City. Both taught for many years at the Benguet State University.Yam is fighting. The kid has been on remission lately, brightening up hopes for the transplant.(Ramon Dacawi)

Hope in You, Hope in Yam

(Written by Shy Baquiano, a Colleague of Jon Bayogan)
18 July 2006

It was one day in summer this year when the Bayogans rushed their youngest daughter, Yam, to the hospital for fever. Thinking that it was an ordinary illness, it did not really alarm the family much. But it turned out to be something worse than dengue – leukemia.

The first diagnosis was that Yam had ALL (Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia). They were assured that the prognosis for this type of leukemia for Yam’s age is good – up to 80% survival or complete remission. So she was given steroids to arrest the growth of bad cells and to enhance production of good cells.

Learning that their 10-year-old daughter had leukemia was devastating. But being told that the type of leukemia she has, has a poor prognosis, was even worse. It turned out that Yam did not have ALL, but AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia). This type requires a more focused and severe treatment than the earlier diagnosis.

In AML, the stem cells usually develop into a type of white blood cell called myeloblasts (or myeloid blasts). The myeloblasts, or leukemia cells, in AML are abnormal and do not mature into healthy white blood cells. These blood cells are unable to do their usual work and can build up in the blood and bone marrow so there is less room for healthy white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. When this happens, infection, anemia, or easy bleeding may occur. The leukemia cells can spread outside the blood to other parts of the body, including the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), skin, and gums. Sometimes leukemia cells form a solid tumor called a granulocytic sarcoma or chloroma.

The experience of listening to the doctor’s revelation was harrowing, even for parents who are both strong emotionally. But both Jonathan and Emma had to brace themselves as they discussed the treatment protocol, the possible side effects, Yam’s possible reaction to treatment, the treatment duration, and the comparatively poorer prognosis with Yam’s doctor. Disclosing this to Yam was even harder.

Yam has had her first two courses of chemotherapy in May and in June. Both times, she had to be rushed back to the hospital after several days for post-chemo blood transfusion and supportive after care. She is due to have her third course this month.

Just recently, they were told that after Yam’s third course of chemotherapy, she could now be ready for bone marrow transplantation. The expenses for hospitalization and medicines had already been a blow to the financial resources of the Bayogans. Now that bone marrow transplantation is in the offing, life would be even more difficult.

Where before the family still had time to go out on weekends, eat out, or gallivant around town just to have fun but quality time together (Jonathan works in another province and goes home only on weekends), now weekends are spent either at home or worse, in the hospital.Yam’s older siblings (John, Gabriel, and Janice) were all for supporting their parents during this hard time, to which Jonathan and Emma are of course grateful. Janice is even taking on humbling chores she never did before and went through scant sleeps at night to attend to her younger sibling’s occasional whims.

As they struggled to accept the condition of Yam, both Jonathan and Emma were burdened with the attitude of seeking how their youngest child could survive. They had been scouring the net for clues of medical assistance, including bringing her to the US for treatment.

The whole family is on their knees as funds dipped low in so short a time. But it is during this low time of their lives that they realize their great vulnerability, realize their inevitable need of others – not just to salve their pained hearts and assist them in the occasional brisk pace of attending to yam’s needs but also to chip to the piling hospital bills. Above all, they realize that only God could heal surely and completely.

And so they are hanging in there, beseeching God for a miracle.

Glimmers of hope could be gleaned as text messages, phone calls, and emails from friends came pouring in, offering prayers and even financial assistance. Yam’s doctor has also been very helpful and sympathetic.

But then of course, there is still that great question of “will she make it?”

Yes, Yam will make it. YOU will help Yam make it. YOU are an instrument for Yam’s speedy, complete, and miraculous healing. You can pray. Or you can help pay her hospital bills.

My Gift to Yam

July 17, 2006 (10:17pm)
by Ivy Rose Rufin and Jon Bayogan

Life is transient, hold on to it while you can.

Yet, how will you hold on to it when right before you is a hand slowly losing grip? How will you hold on to a dear one with life seems fleeting?

Life for Yam, Eunice Joy Bayogan, should have been her favorite endless reading and stuffed toys at ten years old. It shouldn’t be injections and tubes, and eerie blood transfusion, and excruciating chemotherapy. But for reasons yet to be known, her young life is faced with uncertainties. She is forced to see life in different perspective through battling with a foe that hides in the shadow –ACUTE MYELOGENOUS LEUKEMIA. It is a type of Leukemia that has poor prognosis and normally occurs to older people.

The enemy is within her, gradually grabbing her the opportunity to see life beyond childhood.Even if the family, especially the parents Jon and Emma, is honest to Yam about her conditions and she fairly understands it along other bits of life, there are still moments of sharp silence and moments of seeing thin line of hope.

Contemplating is the word, her daddy said. Twice the pain goes to the parents by simply looking at their daughter taking her battle daily. They cannot help but contemplate as well as to how will their daughter emerge from the battle? Victorious or defeated?

With constant prayers and encouragement form people who cared, the family is surviving each day. And their hearts are filled with joy during the days when Yam is on high spirits… like she always have been before her on and off fever last February to April… and the family have been as well before Yam was diagnosed with AML last May after consistent trips to the hospital.

And June 1 came, her first chemotherapy proved that indeed Yam is sick and is to be treated. That day the family might have surpassed the stage of denial.

After four days, her crowning glory began to fall but she still managed to joke that her hair should be saved for daddy’s wig. A manifestation of Yam’s crowning courage amidst difficult times.

As the family hold on to each other, Yam as well showed signs of hope as the doctor told them that their dear Yam is responding positively to treatments.

After difficult times dealing with chemo side effects from the first and the second session last June 23, daddy Jon’s dear one is still to undergo three courses of chemotherapy in the face of piling hospital bills and funds dipping low in short a time. It seems not fair for anybody to be robbed out of all the hopes left just because of a wanting financial resource. But as long as daddy Jon’s faith on helping hands still flicker on the dim light, RAISING 2-3 MILLION IN 2-3 MONTHS could not be entirely out of reach.

Walking on thin line, daddy Jon is trying every way he could think of to fund Yam’s BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION. With great hopes that he could somehow hold on still to his daughter’s hands and prolong her life if not to completely win it back.

Is there pain greater than for a father to see his daughter change from a healthy and bubbly newborn to a sickly hospital patient who does not know what comes next?

We could help ease the pain of the family; we could help Yam conquer the disease and win her battle; we could let her see life beyond childhood – go back to regular classes, read her favorite books again, play with her stuffed toys, acquire more than four medals next year, grow up and live a healthy life.

Yam would be eleven on October 18 this year, that is 3 months from now… is there greater gift than giving a helping hand that will push her to victory against AML?