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)