Part VI: The final preparation

With only a few months left before my son reaches one-year old (the ideal age for operation), we did not waste time to have the necessary work-ups done for my wife. She had lab tests, x-rays, and other blood works done just to find out whether she was a suitable donor for my son. And finally, when she received the results of our CT Angiogram, she texted me immediately saying, "Dada, may pag-asa na tayo para kay gogo" (Dada, there is hope for Gogo). I can sense her joy that she was very happy that she was a suitable donor, but I could also sense the fear that she had. We prayed hard for guidance on the coming days. We knew we had to act fast. As soon as we had all the medical requirements needed for transplant, we sent it to Taiwan for review hoping to receive the acceptance letter soon. With our funds depleting, pledges backing out, and others we expected not coming, I took chances once again in soliciting for funds. I was working as a Pharmaceutical Representative for a Multinational Company in the Philippines and it suddenly struck me to try to appeal for help once again at work. It took me a lot of guts to e-mail the "big bosses" of our company in the United States, but I had no other option left. I humbly introduced myself and my son's case and asked if they could somehow do something to help us. A few days passed and still no reply. As a last resort, I once again e-mailed our family, friends, and charitable foundations again seeking for help, some didn't even reply, others even asked a couple of times if our appeal for help was real or just a scam. We were really getting stressed out because we did not know what else to do.

Until one morning, I woke up early, played with my son for half an hour and at the middle of our play time suddenly I smelled that he made some "poop". So I laid him down and as he was smiling at me, I opened his diapers and I was shocked with what I saw. There were strands of blood in his stool. I looked at it again and saw that it was fresh blood even staining our bed sheet. I panicked because I knew that this was already a sign of his liver deteriorating. This was his first episode of bleeding internally and so I woke my wife up, immediately called our doctor even though it was only 6:00am in the morning and asked what we could do, she told me to immediately rush him to the nearest hospital for first aid and when his condition was stable rush him to the Philippine General Hospital. We prepared our things, jumped at the car, and rushed to the nearest hospital. When we got to the Perpetual Help Medical Center we rushed inside to the Emergency Room to have my son evaluated.

When they gave us the go-signal that he was already stable, I once again called Dr. Gregorio and told her that we would be there in half an hour (although it usually takes an hour and a half to get to PGH from Laguna). We got into the car and I drove as fast as I could, beeping my horn, flashing my headlights, and even leaving the hazzard lights on. I did not care if I went over the speed limit or if I would get in any traffic violations. All I was doing was praying real hard and driving real fast (pedal to the metal as they say) just to get to the Philippine General Hospital as fast as I can. It took us less than half an hour to get there and we immediately rushed to Dr. Gregorio's clinic, she evaluated my son and told us that he needs to be admitted and given blood and albumin transfusions. As soon as I showed her the diaper with the blood, she told us he also needs another IV medicine called Somatostatin, which would help in the healing of the ruptured veins that caused the bleeding. We headed off to the admissions area of the hospital and waited until we got a room. It was a Monday, May 28, which made it more difficult to get a room coming from a weekend. When we finally got admitted, I messaged everyone in my phonebook once again asking for prayers. I was so scared and even more pressured because I knew that in order to save my son's life he had to have his Liver Transplant soon. I sent another e-mail to Ms. Linda Lin in Taiwan to follow-up on our application for my son's operation and I informed her of my son's current condition.

As I was checking my e-mail, I received a very unexpected e-mail from Mr. Craig Kelly, Vice President (MSD Human Health Asia), saying that he has discussed my son's case to Mr. Ken Frazier, President (MSD Global), and they have decided to act on my son's case through the help of Mr. Chris Tan, Managing Director (MSD Philippines). A few minutes later, I received a call from Ms. Paula Salvador (HR Associate) and she told me that Mr. Mike Blanch (VAOW Business Unit Director) and Mr. Joey Briones (HR Director) would be visiting us in PGH within the week to check on my son's condition. I was so relieved with the new spark of hope that day. I knew that the good Lord has been true to his promise that he will never leave us in our times of need. I knew in my heart that in His time, everything will fall into place. A few days later, Mr. Blanch came to visit us in the hospital. I was grateful for his visit and he informed us that in the next few days they will be launching a campaign to help in our fund-raising. He stayed for an hour and headed back to the office after. Before he left, he asked me how much do we still need for the operation and I told him more or less PhP2,000,000. He left and told me, he'll see what he can do, leaving no promises and no commitments. And on the same day, I received a text message regarding an HR initiated "Leaves for Life" Campaign. An internal MSD fund-raising where employees may pledge a number of sick/vacation leaves that would be converted into cash based on the per day salary of the pledging employee. I was so happy while reading this message because I knew that it would generate even a hundred thousand at a conservative estimate of each employee pledging at least a single leave. But, I was wrong. Mr. Blanch called me and informed that as of 5:00pm, the pledges have reached almost PhP500,000. I was shocked and I stood there for a few seconds without moving. I thanked him as my heart jumped for joy. The following day, I sent a message to all of my office mates in my phonebook asking to encourage our other office mates to pledge for the campaign. By 5:00pm again Mr. Blanch sent me another text message informing of the developments on the campaign which read "Mellord, as of today we have just hit the PhP1,000,000 mark". I was so happy thanking him once again. I was having chills all over because I knew it was God at work doing all these miracles. I was really overwhelmed and I knew that from there we would only be needing a little more to complete our funds. We were discharged from the hospital on June 3, and as we were on our way home I kept on praying for good results from the campaign. I was asking the Lord to once again grant us this miracle of having enough funds and enough time to get to Taiwan for my son's operation. That day, I did not hear a word from the office. But come Monday, I was back to work and then suddenly I received another call from our HR Associate, Ms. Paula, she told me to be at the office on Tuesday around 10:00am, she said they're preparing the results of the campaign and would be giving it to me then. I was asking how much we were able to raise but she kept on saying it's a surprise.

The next day I went to the office having high hopes. As I approached the HR's cubicle, she told me to be strong and keep the faith. Then, Mr. Joey Briones (HR Director), talked to me for quite sometime and asked about how my son was doing. He then told me to come to the next room and as we entered the room I saw Ms. Karen Villanueva (External Affairs Director) and Mr. Mike Blanch (VAOW Business Unit Director) waiting for me with a big smile on their faces. Then Mr. Joey Briones handed me with an envelope saying, "This is from you MSD Family". And as I opened the envelope, it put me into tears to see a check for "PhP 2,008,868".I was very overwhelmed and then I cried my heart out and thanked them for all the help. In my silence I thanked the Lord for this blessing. It only clearly proves that God listens to our prayers. I prayed in my heart for God to always bless the good hearts of my office mates from Merck, Sharp, and Dohme Phils. because they may not fully understand what the campaign was all about, but they definitely helped in saving my son's life. The funny part is, the amount we received is the exact amount we needed. I once again thanked them and headed to the nearest bank to deposit the check. We will forever be grateful for the generous contribution of every one from Merck, Sharp, and Dohme Phlippines and Global to Raphael Inigo's Journey.