Abu Dhabi: On November 15 this year, Gulf News ran a story on Larry Castro who has been battling cancer for nearly four years. He needs an urgent bone marrow transplant and the cost of this life-saving surgery was out of the 35-year-old Filipino’s reach. “This is my third relapse into cancer, and I am determined to beat it,” he had told Gulf News. “But I must appeal to the generosity of UAE residents to help me avail of an urgent bone marrow transplant. It is my only hope for survival,” Castro said.
Looking back
He needed to raise nearly Dh320,000 for the surgery. Castro, who worked as a supermarket staffer in Dubai [he lost his job in 2013 after a relapse], was first diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, one of the most common forms of fatal blood cancer, in 2011. A first round of chemotherapy seemed successful, but he relapsed in 2013. He underwent further chemotherapy but to no avail. He is now at Dubai Hospital. “It is a painful process to have cancer treated, and I have lost my hair and much of my vitality. “But perhaps the worst part is that I have not been able to return to the Philippines in all this time to see my 60-yearold mother and 12-year-old daughter,” Larry said.
Challenges
Castro is waiting to fly to Manila after all the medical and administrative procedures towards his treatment are completed.
The surgery has been scheduled for early 2016. “I needed to deposit about Dh84,000 for my treatment at St Luke’s Hospital in Manila, and this amount has now been raised, thanks to the generosity of Gulf News readers and the community. I hope to have the required chemotherapy sessions in January, and then my mother will be donating her bone marrow towards my transplant,” he says.
Looking forward
“I am extremely hopeful this time around, as my cancer is once again in remission and a recent test showed that my cancer cells were down to two per cent,” says Castro.
He still needs to raise about Dh226,000 to pay towards the full cost of his transplant.
“But at this stage, I am not very worried about that. The most important thing for me right now is to start the treatment and beat this cancer. I urge my well-wishers to pray that the surgery finally leaves me cancer-free,” he says.
