Dubai: The Filipino father of a premature baby who racked up an enormous hospital bill is thanking generous Gulf News readers who stepped in to help.
On December 30, 2016, the lives of Henniric Castro and his pregnant wife Maria seemed to shatter before their eyes.
Maria, after complaining of dizziness and a headache, was rushed to Latifa Hospital in Dubai.
She was 28 weeks pregnant — two months before the expected date — and the medical team there noticed her baby’s heartbeat fading away.
To save both the mother and the baby, doctors performed an emergency caesarean delivery.
The baby, who they called Hendelson, was a very sorry sight. At just 765g, three times less than most newborns, the child was severely underweight. Castro wept at the sight of his frail son, confined to an incubator and kept alive only by a mix of wires and tubes.
“We were devastated,” the father said.
“Even though he weighed less than a pack of cheese, he was the heaviest in our hearts.” That same day, doctors said that the baby would be confined to hospital for 45 days.
Meanwhile, Maria was confined to hospital for another ten days with severe pre-eclampsia, a complication where the mother’s blood pressure increases and damages organs.
The situation seemed worse than six years ago, when the couple had lost who would have been their firstborn through a miscarriage.
Now, with both mother and baby in hospital, the desperate dad asked Gulf News to publish his story in hope of raising money to cover the spiralling costs.
“We set aside our ego and put forth our humility for the sake of his welfare,” Castro wrote to the newspaper at the time.
As the sole breadwinner, his monthly salary of Dh5,000 at his engineering job was nowhere near enough to cover the Dh3,500 daily intensive care bill.
After Gulf News published his story on January 9, readers from as far away as Portugal stepped in to help.
A total of 75 known donors stepped forward to donate, including some whose own babies had been born premature and 11 people gave anonymously.
The final hospital bill amounted to around Dh200,000, the majority of which was paid by donors, with the balance covered by insurance.
Two days later, his wife was discharged from hospital and baby Hendelson slowly began to put on weight.
However, plenty of trouble lay ahead. The baby regularly struggled with feeding and digestion, heart murmurs and one point where he seemed to fade out, prompting machines to beep and buzz in warning.
Eventually, on March 13, after 74 long days in hospital, Hendelson Matthew, “our tiny little fighter,” was discharged. He sometimes cries and keeps the couple awake at night — but not that they are complaining about.
“When the doctors gave the green light for our baby to be discharged, we got scared, excited and relieved. The thought of spending the first night without the 24-hour nursing care is scary.”
“However, every single day at home makes us become more comfortable and relaxed, but it takes time.” Castro also thanked the doctors and nurses who restored Hendelson to health.
“We will never, ever forget the doctors and the nurses. They are a bunch of special people who will forever hold a special place in our hearts for taking care of our little one.”
While Castro and his young family are not completely out of trouble — there are still bills to be paid and Hendelson is not yet completely healthy. But they now feel they can face the new challenges head-on.
“To each and every one who donated, some anonymously, in their own simple way, words are simply not enough to show our deepest gratitude. Your generosity made all this possible,” said Castro.
His company and colleagues — present and former — also chipped in to help.
To all his colleagues, he said: “Thank you for showing us that generosity isn’t just an act, but it is a way of life.”
