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Winjam's Recovery Fund

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This message goes out to all friends, relatives, and loved ones as well as warmhearted people from around the globe.
Little Winjam, who has been hospitalized for more than a month battling advanced tuberculosis that destroyed his lungs, needs our help as he continues to battle his way back to health.

This campaign is set up to help raise money for Winjam and his family to cover medical bills, food and other necessary items. No family should have to choose between the life of their child and losing everything they own, which is the situation Winjam’s family is facing now.

in this Interview, his mother explains their situation: (enable subtitles for english subs) - This page has been set up beginning of October 2015 - Please check updates above.
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For those of you living in the Philippines, a story like this may be far to familiar. For those of you who have never visited the Philippines, I would like to explain a little about the situation here before sharing Winjam’s full story. More than 25 percent of the Filipino population lives below the poverty line and another large segment of the population hovers just above it. The cost of medical treatment, however, remains high compared to most families’ ability to afford it. Many hospitals will not admit a patient if they don’t have medical insurance or they suspect the family cannot pay the immediate medical bills out of pocket, even if the condition is life threatening. Many families here survive on their daily earnings and cannot build up any significant savings, making a medical emergency an emotional and financial nightmare even when the patient has basic medical insurance.
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So here is Winjam’s full Story:

When 8-year-old Winjam came down with a persistent high fever in mid August, his parents, Aldyliza (26 years) and Dennis (30 years) Gadiana, rushed him to the Provincial Hospital in the small town of Siaton. It was a holiday and the laboratory was closed so they weren’t able to provide an examination. At the third day at the small hospital, Winjam started having difficulty breathing and blood began pouring from his nose. The family decided they had to act, so they made the hour-long trip to the next largest city, Duamaguete, which has more advanced medical facilities.

It was there they received the shocking diagnosis on Aug. 23: Winjam was suffering from an advanced case of pneumonia (which was identified as tuberculosis afterwards), which had already overcome 90 percent of his lungs. The doctors said it would take a miracle just for him to survive the next 24 hours.

And this miracle became true: Winjam showed his will to live – fighting through the first critical stage of his hospital stay, but that was just the beginning. He has remained hospitalized for the past five weeks in the ICU at Holy Child Hospital, Dumaguete City.


His parents and other relatives have been and still are by his side 24 hours a day, celebrating Winjam’s 8th birthday at his bedside Sept. 20 as he lay unmoving.

Winjam’s condition remains critical. His left lung has collapsed up to 80% and created air pockets instead (black areas in the picture below). On September 29, as the doctors tried everything they could, they explained to the family that there’s no more hope in Dumaguete and only way to save his life will be a surgery. There is no doctor capable doing this special operation, so he needs to be transported to Manila or Cebu, the largest towns in the Philippines.

The situation has been extremely stressful for Winjam’s family, who have been sleeping on the hospitals wooden benches for the past five weeks. On top of fearing for Winjam’s health, they are now faced with the steadily mounting hospital bills. They have already had to pay and credit around 300,000 Pesos (5700€/6400$) for his care so far just to cover medicine and food. That amount doesn’t include the bill for 24-hour hospital care. This is a huge amount of money for the family, equaling more than three times their yearly income.

Winjam’s family makes their living by fishing and farming, which brings in about 4000 PHP (76€/85$) a month, putting their yearly income at around 48,000 PHP (910€/1025$). To cover the 300,000PHP they have already paid, Winjam’s grandfather sold the rights to land he was meant to inherit, his parents sold their only two cows, and his grandmother sold her chickens. They have also reached out to local politicians, gone on the local radio stations asking for help and reached out to private donors.  We are immensely grateful for all the generous help and donations people have given up to this point and they are the only reason Winjam has been able to remain in treatment for the past five weeks. Big thank you to all of you!

Unfortunately, the donations have been exhausted and the family is desperately struggling to cover daily expenses, which vary between 5000-20,000PHP per day, for antibiotics, dextrose, diapers, gloves etc. Now they are right before their trip to Cebu for surgery which will cost them another estimated 150,000PHP (2850€/3200$). On top of that, the overall bill for in-hospital care has already reached 700,000 PHP (13,300€/14,950$). The family has run out of options, which is why we have set up the gofundme site to reach out to more possible donors both here in the Philippines and internationally.


A small bright spot in this ordeal is that Winjam is covered by a basic health insurance plan with PhilHealth, a public insurance company. It is still unclear how much of the bill PhilHealth will cover since costs are usually partially reimbursed only after being paid out of pocket by the client. This means that the daily expenses the family are facing will not be immediately covered and the filing process could take a very long time—time Winjam doesn’t have.

A usual treatment for tuberculosis will last at least six months and it is still unknown how much longer Winjam will take to recover, since his condition was so advanced by the time it was discovered. Side effects and possible brain damage cannot be diagnosed at this moment as he is not able to talk and move but are possible to remain.
With the surgery however, there are realistic chances to survive, even if he would probably have to live with one lung only.

The bills that Winjam’s family now owe would be considered large by many people even in the Western world, but here in the Philippines they are gigantic. At the moment, Winjam’s life is dependent on donations.

He and his brave family need our help. Let’s come together and share this campaign within our network of family and friends and keep Winjam on the road to recovery. Together, we can make a real difference for him and his family. Also, please keep Winjam and his family in your prayers. There is no donation to small because every peso and cent is important.

You can also like  Helpwinjam on facebook to build up a bigger community and receive updates.

Winjam—we need your smile back! We love you.

Donations 

  • Ein Herz für Kinder
    • €5,200 (Offline)
    • 8 yrs
  • PCSO
    • €4,000 (Offline)
    • 8 yrs
  • W. Rollé
    • €5 (Offline)
    • 8 yrs
  • R. Woerner
    • €30 (Offline)
    • 8 yrs
  • M. Kugler
    • €132 (Offline)
    • 8 yrs

Organizer

Lily P. Qugler
Organizer
Kernen

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