Niño's Heart Operation

Hi! This is Niño De Jesus, 9 years old,son of my niece, Donna. He lives in Barrio San Pablo, Purok Katilingban, Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat. He likes to draw, he is smart and he is a very active kid.

He was diagnosed with severe mitral regurgitation  with preserved ventricular function. Just this year, he was twice taken to the hospital and almost died, but he is a fighter. His first doctor told his parents he only have until January to live; and little Niño, upon hearing this, got depressed and immediately told his grandmother not to shell out money for him anymore because it would be useless since he'll just eventually die.

I took him to Manila together with his mom and grandmothers and asked for a second opinion from the best doctors in the city. These doctors, upon checking the tests made to Niño, assured that he has a big chance of living; he only needs to undergo mitral valve replacement. If he won't undergo surgery, he is at risk of developing severe pulmonary hypertension and congestive heart failure. But once a surgery gets done, he will live like a normal kid again. He just needs to undergo surgery at the soonest time possible because of the severity of his heart condition. 

His first operation was scheduled last October 17 but was cancelled because the hospital required full cash payment of PHP 700,000.00 or USD 18,000 before the procedure. It was rather a huge amount and the family could not once and for all come up with that. I talked to the doctors and we all agreed to transfer him to a hospital which offers cheaper operation rates and the operation is now scheduled on January 5, 2016 which is favorable on both ends as we have time to to look for the amount needed.

In this light, I am asking for your help to save little Niño. I'm not actually aiming to get as much as USD 18,000, but whatever amount we come up to from this site will mean a lot to me and my family.

Thank you very much!

Sincerely,
Lav Diaz