A man named Jeric Testre proves that every coin counts as he counted all the coins that he had saved for his daughter’s operation. A photo of him showing how he counted all the coins, quickly went viral online.
For a father who needs 2 million Pesos, every coin that he has matters, especially with the fact that the P2-M will be used for his 11-month-old daughter’s operation.
On Facebook, the photo of Jeric Testre counting the centavo coins for his Baby Esang who needs an immediate operation, quickly went viral online. Instead of begging for money, Testre chose to count all the 5, 10, and 25 centavo coins. The photo both broke and touched the hearts of the netizens online.
“Biliary atresia po ang sakit ng bata…. Liver transplant is the only cure for Baby Esang. It costs P1.6 million, to be done in Apollo Hospital in New Delhi,” LITRO (LIver TRansplant Operation) Babies Philippines, Inc. founder Jenny Sumalpong told Manila Bulletin in an exclusive interview. Baby Esang is one of the 64 “LITRO babies.”
According to the reports, Biliary atresia is a condition wherein the bile ducts outside and inside the liver are being blocked. That being said, Bile cannot flow into the intestines and so the bile builds up in the liver, causing further damage that leads to scarring, loss of liver tissue and function, and cirrhosis.
The Facebook user named Jenny, who posted the photo of Testre counting all the coins, wrote: “Parang dinudurog puso ko. Nagbibilang ng centavo sa mismong ospital para makaipon lang ng pampa-opera ng anak,” she said.
Unfortunately, despite that the post quickly went viral, they still failed to collect P2-M. So far, they’ve just earned a total of P200,000. The number of coins and bills collected included the below minimum wage income of Testre’s wife and the donations from the people who were touched by his story.
Aside from the P1.6-M that he would need for the operation, he’d also need hundreds and thousands for them to be able to take the baby to India because the operation could be cheaper, plus with the higher survival rates.
“Doon [India] po ang mura at doon ang mataas ang survival rate. Taiwan [operation] costs P4 million. P4.5 million dito (It’s cheaper in India and the survival rate is higher. Taiwan operation costs P4 million. Here in the Philippines, it’s P4.5 million),” Jenny said.
Since Testre was despearate to complete the money needed for Baby Esang’s operation, he decided to count all the coins that he has.
“Ang batang may sakit na ganito usually ‘di na aabot ng two years old. Urgent na si Esang. Naisipan na mag-ipon ng centavos dahil desperate na (The doctor said children who have this illness usually do not reach the age of two. Esang is an urgent case. Her father thought of saving coins because they are desperate already),” Jenny said.
Jenny also told Manila Bulletin that they believe that saving every coin would make a change.
“Nasa hospital po kami noon at iyon lang po ang nakita kong paraan para po at least may maitabi po kami para po sa operasyon po ng bata (We were at the hospital then and that was the only way to at least save something for the child’s operation),” he said.
“Mahal na mahal po namin ang bata…. Wala pong magulang na matitiis po ang anak na nagdudusa sa sakit po at wala pong gagawin para sa anak nila upang mabuhay (We love her so much. No parent can endure the pain of seeing his/her child suffering from an illness without doing anything to extend the child’s life),” he expressed.
While a lot of people tend to ignore a single centavo, there’s this Testre family who badly needed every centavo.
“If you have centavos na naiipon, puwede po ba bigay n’yo na lang for Baby Esang?” Jenny asked.
And also, they have a ‘Shirt for Baby Esang’ campaign that aims to raise enough money for Esang’s operation.
No comments:
Post a Comment