HOPELESS TURNS HOPEFUL

     Daniel (not real name) who hails from Caloocan City, was diagnosed to have acquired cancer of the neck and head, stage 4. With this, he knew very well that it was a hopeless case and the end of his life was nearing because with such sickness, and with the financial status that he was in, he felt it was impossible for him to get over it so he felt very desperate.
     I came across Daniel's story through a 39-year old caregiver here in Taiwan with whom I had a short chit chat at Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital during my patient's routine medical checkup. The woman happened to be Daniel's mother. I saw from her the burden of a mother who feared the nearing end of her son.
     Daniel has gone through all means to get treated of a cyst in his neck. He went to Philippine General Hospital anticipating that he could get free treatment there being a government owned and operated hospital but the family was wrong because it was advised that the operation would cost him P200,000. It was therefore impossible to stay at the PGH.
     Luckily, the doctor of the patient of Daniel's mom had offered help. With the help of Mrs. Lucre's boss, they were able to get Daniel to Taiwan to meet a special doctor for his illness. All the documents were taken cared of by Mrs. Lucre's boss who claimed to just pay the kindness of their employee for more than 7 years of service with them.
     Daniel traveled to Taiwan for a face reconstruction. This meant that a bone jaw had to be opened and replaced. With this, a narrow bone in the leg was extracted to replace his jaw, and a piece of skin from the upper leg was taken to complete the face reconstruction. These all happened without Daniel's knowledge as he was sleeping because of the anaesthetic dosage he took. When he woke up and opened his eyes, he knew he has loast a piece of his bone in the leg and a piece of skin in his torso. Actually, he did not lose them, they were only put in another part of his body. Everything was done successfully at no cost on Daniel's part.
     Daniel had gone back to Philippines. According to Mrs. Lucre, her son now looks so healthy. strong and confident that he mentioned that his body system is now clear of cancer cells after the last chemo-radiation was done to him. With teary eyes, Daniel and his family could not utter any word to express his gratitude to the Almighty and to all the people concerned for what had transpired in turining Daniel's  hopeless life to a hopeful one.