Debrale's Fundraiser: Filipino Brother with Cyclic Vomiting
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As a child, I, Debrale Murphy suffered from Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS) from the age of 6 years. CVS episodes always led to hospitalization because after vomiting as frequently as every 5 minutes for 24 hours I would inevitably be dehydrated. Intense nausea was miserable and debilitating as many other CVS sufferers report. I was unable to speak or walk in the acute phase, always suffering significant weight loss from these traumatic episodes that occurred every 3 -6 months.
Recalling this misery, when I learned of a family with two boys, 12 and 16 years, suffering from CVS, my heart went out to them. This family of seven lives in a village in the Philippines supported by the father's work providing tricycle transport.
The family's physician has prescribed appropriate medicines for prevention, symptom management in the acute phase as well as during recovery. The boys' mother tries to care for them, but the medicines are not affordable for her (a single ondansetron could alter the course of an episode, but costs one days' wages). Any time one of the boys has a headache or becomes overtired from daily demands or shows signs of a viral illness, their mother knows that she must treat them to prevent dehydration and vomiting blood which would make hospitalization appropriate. Once either son starts vomiting it is heartbreaking and terrifying to witness his misery and be unable to intervene. The fact that she holds prescriptions for medicines that might change the course of events is like salt on a wound since those medicines are not affordable.
I have years of experience working as a nurse in resource-limited settings around the world, so I understand that finances for purchase of medicines would be a significant issue for this family (this had certainly been the case for my own family caring for me, requiring that my father seek new employment with health insurance benefits).
My heart breaks over this suffering. If these medicines were available when I was a child, I would not have suffered so.
My goal is to provide each boy preventative medicine as well as treatment medicines for 6 months and then reassess.
This GoFundMe is an appeal for financial support for this family. Let me give details for information and transparency purposes:
- A contact in the Philippines working with a nonprofit is willing to receive the funds and disperse them; pharmacy receipts for each disbursement will be collected.
- Funds needed is determined primarily by the costs of the medicines. Costs of cash transfers will be covered by donations.
- History of CVS for these boys: episodes occur at least monthly (today is March 28; one of the boys has had three episodes this month), often ending in hospitalization; preventing the need for hospitalization is possible and far preferable to hospitalizations that are medically indicated but delayed due to cost.
- Maintenance (preventative) medicines would be appropriate for these boys because of the frequency of their episodes.
- Prevention: Daily amitriptyline: $19.00 (USD) per month for each child could significantly change the quality of life of this entire family.
- Treatment: Once one of the boys has symptoms, these may be significantly lessened by ondansetron: 12 pills for $56.00; a typical episode would require 3 or 4 ondansetron doses, so $56.00 would cover 3 or 4 episodes of illness.
- Initial Goal: provide six months' worth of preventative as well as emergency treatment medicines and then reassess. Estimated cost: $600.00.
Organizer
Debrale Murphy
Organizer
Fitchburg, MA