MALAKI ang pasasalamat ni Kristine Olimpiada sa mga celebrities na tumulong sa kanyang anak na si Prince Angelo Garcia na nagkaroon ng liver operation.
“Since three months po ay nanilaw siya tapos nag-fail po ‘yung stool niya. Pina-check-up namin sa ospital pero hindi nila ma-diagnose kung ano ang sakit hanggang pitong buwan o walong buwan siya.
“Hindi po nila ma-sure kung ano ang sakit ni baby hanggang mag-second opinion kami sa ibang doctor. Sinabi po sa amin noong 11 months na siya na kailangan niya ng urgent liver transplant,” kuwento ni Cristine sa amin.
“Saan naman ako kukuha ng ganoon kalaking pera. Hanggang sa nag-post na kami sa Facebook. Nagpa-fundraising na kami. Nagbebenta kami ng mga T-shirt ni baby for a cause, ng mga towel. Nag-viral nga po si baby. Sina Ms. Ai Ai delas Alas, si Ms. Karla Estrada na talagang bukas-palad na tumutulong sa amin, sir Alfred Vargas, Sen. Bong Revilla na kahit nasa kulungan ay pinahahatid kay Ma’m Lani Mercado ang tulong niya. Si sir Herbert Bautista, tumulong din po sa amin,” say pa niya.
“A liver transplant is very complicated especially if you do it for children. It requires a lot of expertise. Not every center can do it with good results. You need a donor and you have a child. Actually, you take a piece of the liver from a donor. Usually, it’s one of the parents or someone in the family.
“We take a very small piece of the liver and we remove the old diseased liver from the child and we put the small piece inside. The small piece grows into a proper big liver. The donor also grows his liver in one month,” explained Dr. Sharat Varma, consultant ng Max Super Specialty Hospital sa Saket, New Delhi, India na siyang pediatric hepatology ng baby ni Cristine.
“Liver transplant is very expensive and out of reach for most people so what we’re doing is we’re donating a huge part of money as charity. For a transplant it is supposed to cost $30,000. $5,000 is being contributed by the hospital,” Dr. Varma explained.