Hi,

My name is Jim and I'm trying to help a very sick little boy, who is just 3 months old and fighting for his life. His name is Marc Rafael Jorge Hernandez.

Little Marc is a member of my extended family and he lives in Cebu City, Philippines. His parents are very young (mom is 17, dad 19) and both families of the infant's parents are VERY POOR and they desperately need our help.

Members of my own family here in Canada have already raised and sent a considerable sum to help them but pediatric ICU at a private hospital is very expensive. Marc was rushed there by ambulance because the small, underfunded and ill-equipped public clinic that he was first brought to could not help very much, beyond doing basic triage.

As his condition deteriorated, Marc was next transferred to a private hospital in Cebu City, which has the sophisticted medical resources needed to save him. It was at this point that I became aware of the situation and got involved.

Marc remains critically ill, but he's now been transferred to a top-quality, 800-bed public hospital, which means that PhilHealth insurance for his poor parents will now kick in to cover the remaining cost of his care - but the private hospital bill for saving his life in ICU still has to be paid.

The family pawned their motorbike - their most valuable possession - in order to pay just the deposit for ICU admission, let alone the entire bill. That bike is their only means of income, so we want to get it back for them, as well as relieving them of the burden of a huge hospital bill.

The family also had to sign a promissory note (and make another large cash deposit) on the existing hospital bill, before they were even allowed to have the baby transferred to a public hospital. It's a crazy system in the Philippines, not like here in Canada.

Marc continues fighting very hard. He's awake and he's been feeding from mama's milk by syringe - all positive signs - but he's fighting a serious, complex illness and his little body just doesn't have any immunity yet - so I'm asking you to fight for him, too.

His young parents and his grandma have not left his bedside for nearly 2 weeks. We've cried. We've prayed. We've sent money. We've lit candles in churches. We've implored congregations to pray. We've made lots of phone calls and emails to doctors, social workers, family members, etc.

Baby Marc has some distant cousins here in Canada whom he's never met - ages 4, 7 and 11 (my grandchildren, of whom I am SO PROUD). Those 3 children emptied their piggy banks when told about how sick Marc was. I'm talking ALL of their Christmas money. All of their birthday money. Hundreds of dollars - everything they had, from YOUNG KIDS.

Marc's Grandma has been at the baby's bedside continuously, but now she's lost her job as a street-food vendor, because the 17-yo mom is a minor, so she legally cannot be left alone with the baby at the hospital - thus further compounding a bad situation.

Marc's Grandpa (my wife's nephew) is an A/C repair man and he works very, very hard to earn only a little money - to support 6 kids - in addition to now having a critically ill baby on his hands. Meanwhile, his wife can't work her vending job and he has no motorbike.

All Funds will be converted to PH Pesos and sent to Marc's grandparents in order to:

Please keep Marc in your prayers, and remember that even a small amount like $5, when converted to Pesos can go a long way to help this struggling family.

We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to the team of doctors and nurses who've treated young Marc so far, but we want to give a special blessing and super thanks to Dr. Fiel Fortez.

A personal note: Please join me to congratulate young Marc for his recent bedside Baptism. Marc's family may be poor but they work very hard and they are faithful Catholics.

I used to skip church/Mass as a teenager to go and smoke weed with my pals, but God's call to help the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the weak and defenseless still landed in my heart - thanks to my parents James and Florence.

Please pray for Marc and give a little if you can.

‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ - Matthew 25:40