DUBAI: A Filipina nurse is appealing to Good Samaritans to help her husband who's fighting leukaemia - by a quirk of fate - in the same hospital where she works.
Teresa Galang Lareza's husband Arthur, a 37-year-old IT technician, is bed-ridden with acute myelo leukaemia (AML) at Rashid Hospital. But she is hardly able to look after him as she has to attend to other sick patients.
"My heart aches for him," said Teresa, who has to put up a brave face in front of her two children, aged one year and seven, because she doesn't want them to know that their dad faces a serious condition.
On November 5, Arthur underwent his first of two chemotherapies, which bought him time to keep blood cancer at bay. His fever subsided and he was temporarily discharged. But lab test results following a bone marrow aspirate showed he belonged to a high-risk group. His consultant physician and haematologist, Dr Mahmoud Al Marashi, said allogeneic stem cell transplantation is "highly recommended".
The Dh300,000 procedure is, however, too costly for Arthur whose health insurance does not cover the treatment. Teresa, now the sole bread-winner, earns just enough to repay a bank loan and keep the house running.
No choice
She said their family budget is so tight. The banks are chasing her for repayment of personal loans too. "We have no choice but to appeal for help. We can't pay for the treatment by ourselves."
The Larezas are now contemplating selling their house in the Philippines.
"We have lost all our savings. I don't know what to do, but I am positive. Every fils counts. Please help my husband." Teresa who has worked as a nurse at Rashid Hospital since 2007, after working at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Nueva Ecija province in the Philippines said she knows at least two people in Dubai who are leading normal lives after a successful bone marrow transplant. "Arthur has no known family history of cancer. His doctors said bone marrow transplant is his last hope."
Doctors at St Lukes in Manila have found a matching bone marrow donor in Arthur's younger sister Annalyn, 30, on Tuesday.
"The prognosis for Arthur is good. He's still young and healthy. He can tolerate the transplant procedure. Survival rate is high if treatment is done earlier. If we find a matching blood donor, we plan to have the transplant in Vellore, India or Manila," said Teresa. Even if they get the maximum discount, Teresa said they still can't afford the cost from their resources. "I'm counting on Good Samaritans to give my husband a new lease of life."
