As an official partner, Thome Ship Management was first involved with Kythe Child Life activities in Quirino Memorial Medical Center. TSM expanded the gazebo and garden facilities of the hospital, sustaining a conducive environment for pediatric patients and their families to relax and play.
Today, TSM proudly continues with Kythe as they join the Adopt-a-Patient program. The company’s donation now supports the needs of five pediatric patients in the Kythe-affiliated hospitals, greatly contributing to their compliance in medical procedures and their overall psychosocial well-being.
These are the stories of TSM’s five adopted pediatric patients.
Fourteen-year-old Rowie now stays with his mother and grandmother after the passing away of his father. Rowie was diagnosed with beta thalassemia and must stay in the National Children’s Hospital for one to two weeks whenever a blood transfusion is needed. This does not serve as a hindrance to his playfulness, as he is known to always be in the Kythe playroom. Rowie loves arts and crafts, and his absence from school for medical treatment notwithstanding, he is very handy with computers. Staying in the playroom, he says, makes him forget for a little while that he is confined.
Marco Angelo was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia and attends treatment in the Philippine Children’s Medical Center. Although it was difficult at first for his family to accept the situation, they witnessed firsthand the strong will of other children to battle with cancer, and they hope for the best as well for their eleven-year-old boy.
Like Marco, seven-year-old Jilka Alliyah is also afflicted with acute lymphocytic leukemia, having been diagnosed in 2012. Her condition prevents her from continuing formal schooling, but cheerful Jilka copes by reading and writing poems while she undergoes her medical procedures in PCMC. For more than a year, Jilka and her family have been dedicated in completing her treatment despite their lack of resources; PCMC is happy to report that Jilka is responding well to her chemotherapy.
At two years old, Liamuel has already been diagnosed with neuroblastoma. Liamuel’s father is a jeepney driver who roughly earns around PHP7000 a month, and his mother is a housewife and his primary guardian in PCMC. In taking care of her son’s needs, she is a devoted, caring, and sensitive mother. The family has mostly depended on support from relatives and PCSO grants for Liamuel’s chemotherapy treatment.
After noticing that two-year-old Keith had an eye discoloration that became bigger over time, his mother brought him to the ENT clinic in Leyte. No developments came after Keith was provided with an antibiotic, and the family traveled to Vicente Sotto Memorial Hospital in Cebu for further assessment and an eye operation. Keith was to undergo chemotherapy, and the his family decided to transfer to PCMC for continuous treatment. Keith had a second eye operation in February, and is in good spirits while he is in the hospital.
The pediatric patients and their families brave through several obstacles as they work toward a full recovery from cancer and chronic illness, and Kythe thanks TSM for adopting the patients and helping them live on against the odds.
We thank TSM for adopting our Kythe patients. You have given these children a better chance to live long productive lives.