Walking free #28StoriesofGiving

MANILA, Philippines - It’s a story straight out of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars.

Just like Augustus Waters, the book’s protagonist, 14-year-old Jeff Sibayan suffers from osteosarcoma, a malignant bone cancer. Like him, he is fond of playing basketball and computer games.

The pain in his right leg began in November last year. The following month, it became even more evident when he incurred a knee injury after a ball game.

But it was only after he was rushed to the Philippine General Hospital that he and his parents found out about the tumor growing in his leg; that the disease was already in its second stage; and that his leg had to be amputated to prevent the disease from spreading.

Tears flowed as Jeff reminisced the moment he found out he would lose his right leg.

Since his amputation and radioplasty, Jeff has been confined to a wheelchair. He hasn’t seen or heard from friends from his hometown of Mariveles, Bataan. Basketball and hanging out with them to play are now mere things of the past. Not only he is unable to live normally, the need for constant assistance is quite embarrassing for someone his age.

With his ongoing chemotherapy, painkillers offer him his only respite.

Despite his suffering, Jeff remains happy and positive. He passes the time by playing chess with fellow cancer patients, making loom bands which they sell to college students, visiting Rizal Park for the first time, even watching The Fault in Our Stars at Bahay Aruga, his new home.

“I’m happy to be alive even if I’ve lost my leg. Hopefully, once I get a prosthetic leg, I could go back and finish school and go to college. I want to become a computer technician,” he says.

Once done with his chemotherapy sessions, Jeff will be fitted with a prosthetic leg courtesy of the Philippine General Hospital’s Amputee Ward and Physicians for Peace Philippines, the local chapter of a global movement that aims to provide training, support and empowerment for healthcare professionals working in developing countries.

The organization’s amputee care program, called Walking Free, started in the country in 2005, and is headed by 2013 Mabini Presidential Awardee, Josephine “Penny” Bundoc.

“Our amputee care program envisions that people from all walks of life could walk independently. We make that possible by providing affordable, accessible and appropriate mobility devices such as prosthetics, crutches and canes, among others,” she says, adding that from 2005 to 2013, the program has helped 5,252 individuals.

Bundoc’s advocacy stems from her being a person with disability as well.

Very near-sighted and aided by prescription glasses to see normally, she hails from the Robredo family of Naga City, which has a case of genetic retinitis pigmentosa that led to her father and two of her siblings’ blindness. When she finished her residency training at the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department of UP-PGH, she left for the US to pursue further studies in prosthetics and orthotics at Shriner’s Hospital for Crippled Children and Moss Rehabilitation Center.

“At Shriner’s, I saw all the amputees and crippled children walking, running and being independent. I told myself, ‘Wow! How can we have this kind of service in the Philippines?’ That’s when it all started,” says Bundoc.

When she returned to the country, Bundoc worked with fellow doctors and donors like Washington SyCip and Cambodia Trust to establish PGH’s Amputee Ward, which provided poor amputees with a temporary residence at the hospital while waiting to be fitted with prosthetics or while undergoing therapy. She also established the Philippine School for Prosthetics and Orthotics (PSPO) at the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Medical Center (UERMMC) in 2010 – the first Filipino school dedicated to training professionals in the field of amputee care, prosthetic design, manufacture and use.

Bundoc hopes that with the opening of the PSPO, doctors in the field of prosthetics would multiply and spread to other areas of the country, where PWDs are generally underserved. It would also put the Philippines in a better position to locally design and manufacture mobility devices such as prosthetics instead of importing them, she says.

“It’s a concern we try to address in our school through research and development. Hopefully, we can be locally applicable and globally acceptable,” Bundoc adds.

Jeff is lucky to have the assistance of someone like Bundoc. His prosthetic leg (as well as the accompanying therapy for its use) is paid for courtesy of a disability package developed by PhilHealth upon the suggestion of Bundoc’s organization. But as he matures, he will need replacements for his prosthetic leg – a financial burden for him and his family if he does not graduate from college and get a good job.

Coincidentally, Filipinos recently commemorated the 150th birth anniversary of the sublime paralytic and philosopher Apolinario Mabini, whose intelligence and insight amid disability brought inspiration to the Philippine Revolution. The current state of persons with disability calls for new heroes so they can be on equal footing with the rest of society.

“People, not by their choice, are born with disability. As a society, we have a choice to give them equal opportunities so they can have equal abilities,” says Bundoc.

To volunteer for or donate to the Walking Free program of Physicians for Peace Philippines, email [email protected] or contact (0918) 903-1798.

(Editor’s Note: The Philippine STAR’s #28StoriesOfGiving is a campaign that turns the spotlight on 28 inspiring stories of people and organizations who devote their lives to helping themselves or others. Everyone is encouraged to post or tweet a message of support with the hashtag, #28StoriesOfGiving. For every post, P5.00 will be added to The STAR’s existing ‘give back’ anniversary fund. For comments and suggestions to #28storiesofgiving, email [email protected] follow @philippinestar on Twitter or visit The Philippine STAR’s page on Facebook.)