We need financial help for my mom

Hi! My name is Katherine Karganilla.  I live in Westville, Nova Scotia.  I migrated from the Philippines 15 years ago, and now currently a Canadian Citizen, has been working at the Aberdeen Hospital, New Glasgow for 10 years.  I am humbly asking for your financial help as my mother is currently admitted at Makati Medical Center in the Philippines.

My mom, Rita Karganilla, 70 years old had a stroke about 6 years ago and also has a history of kidney problems due to her diabetes.  On December 11th, my brother rushed her to the hospital due to difficulty breathing.  It was found that she has kidney failure which caused her to be out of breath, and her heart and lungs are filled with fluid.  Currently, she already has had four dialysis treatments.  Each treatment costs equivalent to $658 Canadian dollars.  The nephrologist said that she will require regular dialysis treatment (even after going home) because her kidneys are not functioning normally anymore.  If we do not continue the dialysis treatment, her shortness of breath will recur again and the cycle repeats.

Unfortunately, we do not have universal health care in the Philippines, like what we have here in Canada.  So all the hospital bills, we pay out of pocket.  I am fortunate and grateful that my coworkers, friends and immediate family here in Canada have already started helping me financially; however, we still have a long ways to go.  My brother, Edwin Karganilla, was able to loan money from the company he works with.  That money was used to pay for the down payment in the hospital.  I, on the other hand, borrowed money from my line of credit so I could give my share.

With the accumulating bill, I am afraid my brother and I will not be able to pull enough funds to pay in full.  Currently, since three days of being admitted, my mom’s hospital bill is 358,694.24 in Philippine peso, which is equivalent to $9,694.43 in Canadian dollars.  This is excluding doctor fees.   The doctors are also saying she may still need to stay in the hospital for another week or so; so the hospital bills are just getting higher and higher with every passing day.

I know life is tough right now, due to the pandemic, and also because Christmas time is near; but I am begging for your financial aid.   Living far away from her right now breaks my heart, so the only thing I can do from my end is to help with her financial needs.

Pictures of the ongoing hospital bill can be sent to you electronically as per request.  Thank you very much for all your help and God bless you all. UPDATE: Dec. 17/20 The nephrologist (kidney doctor) said that my mom will need to have dialysis regularly now - three times a week - even after she is sent home. I still don't have a clear discharge date, so our bills are still piling high. Thank you everyone for your continued support. UDPATE Dec 18: My mom is going to have surgery on Monday Dec. 21st in the Philippines to have her AV fistula put in for her regular dialysis that will cost $5000 CAD equivalent. Please continue to share my GoFundMe page as we need your help badly. God bless you all. UPDATE Dec 21: My mom's surgery was a success. Thanks for all the prayers. As of yesterday, our hospital bill is equivalent to $12,378 (excluding doctor's fees). Again, thank you for your continued support. Please continue to share this page as we still need your help. UPDATE DEC. 23: My mom will be spending Christmas in the hospital unfortunately. We still haven't received any advice on estimated date of discharge as she is still needing oxygen for her breathing and is receiving dialysis every other day. Current hospital bill is equivalent to $20,706.00 CAD. Please continue to include her in your prayers. UPDATE DEC. 24: When it rains it pours... My mom needs everyday dialysis. She now has heart failure due to increased fluid. She also needs immediate angiogram to determine the damage in her heart, then maybe heart surgery. We are trying to transfer her to a government hospital because it is cheaper there. If we stay where we're at, the angiogram plus the surgery will cost us $27,000 on top of our hospital bills which is actually on the $20k mark as well Please pray for my mom. We need all the prayers we can get. UPDATE DEC. 26: We transferred our mom to Heart Center of the Philippines from Makati Medical Center. She is now admitted with pneumonia. Plan is to do the angiogram as soon as she is able to, then we’ll know from there how her heart is doing and/or if she needs heart surgery after that. She has undergone a total of eight dialysis sessions in MMC, but the fluid continues to accumulate in her lungs and heart; so it will be a never-ending cycle until we fix her heart. From your all your donations and the money that my brother loaned from his work and I loaned from my line of credit, we were able to pay our hospital bill to P987,647.79 Philippine pesos (equivalent to approximately $26,693.18 CAD or $20,720.01 USD). We wouldn’t be able to do this without your gracious help, and my family and I are again so thankful for your generosity. However, that being said, now that she is in the Heart Center, we have exhausted ALL our funds. We again humbly ask that you share this GoFundMe page in the hopes to help us again. I know this is too much to ask, but we have no other choice at this point.