MANILA, Philippines – Upon the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine in Caloocan City, 48-year-old Manolito Palacio wondered how he could bring his sick wife to the hospital for her much-needed treatment.
Manolito Palacio’s wife Marilou has stage 5 chronic kidney disease. Residing in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, she needs to attend her regular dialysis appointment thrice a week in a hospital in Fairview, Quezon City.
Since it was the only dialysis center closest to them, Manolito and Marilou said they had no choice but to travel long distances.
Due to quarantine guidelines, public transportation has become limited, making it difficult for patients without private vehicles to go to hospitals. (READ: Cancer patients struggle with getting treatment during pandemic)
Unqualified to be treated as an emergency, Manolito’s wife could not be given transportation assistance from the barangay.
The challenging situation forced Manolito to be creative. (READ: 'Walang choice': Man with leukemia walks to get chemo meds amid Luzon lockdown)
To help bring his wife to the hospital, Manolito borrowed a bike from his uncle, which he used to attach to his wife’s wheelchair.
“Nakahiram ako ng bike sa uncle ko at kinabit sa wheelchair. ‘Yun na yung gamit namin papunta sa dialysis (I was able to borrow a bike from my uncle and attached it to the wheelchair. That’s what we used in going the dialysis),” he explained.
With limited public transportation, Manolito has to make a twelve-kilometer trip pushing his wife’s wheelchair just to make it to the hospital, and another twelve kilometers to return home. He's been doing this throughout the entire duration of the lockdown in Metro Manila.
Despite the challenge posed by this, Manolito shared how he didn’t hesitate to do this for his family.
“Una sa lahat, ginagawa ko ‘to para sa mga anak namin. Pangalawa, kailangan ipakita ko sa sa asawa ko na hindi ako susuko hangga’t kaya, para manatili at mas tumagal pa ang kanyang buhay (Firstly, I’m doing this for our children. Second, I need to show my wife that I won’t give up so that she could live longer), Manolito said.
Extra push
It was in June when Manolito’s unyielding efforts touched the hearts of netizens after photos of his long trip pushing his wife’s wheelchair while on his bike went viral on social media.
Moved by his story, a concerned netizen, who asked to remain anonymous, looked for a way to reach out to Manolito and his family.
“My heart broke when I saw the photo of Mr. Lito and I knew that I had to do something on my own,” she said.
On June 13, the netizen was able to find the couple’s Facebook accounts and ask for the family’s needs.
Having transportation as their top priority, the family asked for an electric bike.
For them to know which e-bike is appropriate for their situation, Manolito looked for nearby shops and canvassed prices of models that had a sunroof and were good for long trips. Manolito was able to find one that was worth P57,000.
To gather enough money, a fundraiser was initiated by the netizen on the same day. After 4 hours, the fundraiser already gathered more than enough money to buy the brand new e-bike for the family.
Despite already having more than enough, donations kept on coming in on June 14.
After some effort in searching for the right e-bike, they were able to purchase it on June 16.
The remaining money from the fundraiser will be used for Marilou’s medication and dialysis treatment. At least P10,000 of the gathered funds were used to buy groceries and medicines as well.
With their new electric bike in tow, Manolito and his wife can now go to the hospital for Marilou’s dialysis treatment with fewer troubles.
Overwhelmed by the support coming from the netizens, Manolito was more than thankful for the help.
“Sa mga taong tumulong sa’min, hindi ko man kayo kilala at hindi ko man kayo mapasalamatan sa personal nang isa-isa, napakalaking pasasalamat naming mag-asawa sa inyo (To all those who helped us, even if I may not know you and I may not be able to thank you personally one by one, my wife and I are very thankful),” he said.
After successfully helping the Palacio family, the concerned netizen encourages everyone to support initiatives for a good cause.
“Helping can be in different ways. Never think that your voice is too small and that you can’t help in your own way. You can use the power of social media to good use,” the online supporter said. – Rappler.com