Multiple Sclerosis Assistance Fund for Mara

My 27 year old niece, Mara was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). In the Philippines, MS is not a well-known disease and availability to MS medication is limited to a handful of very expensive drugs and treatment regimes. The costs of treatment and medication are not covered by the national medical insurance program and private insurance companies.

So on top of spells of slurred speech, mobility challenges and potential brain damage, Mara is now burdened with funding hospital stays, lab tests, specialist fees, and medications (Rituximab) during a pandemic...while attending to her demanding public-service job at a government agency, community volunteer work, and classes for a post-graduate program. Her world is upended and her young life is disrupted without a lifetime treatment regime.

In the US, we are blessed with a lot of treatment options and some insurance coverage. Not so in the Philippines. I am helping in her medical financing efforts through this fund. It is my hope that kind folks would sympathize with her plight.