Mother appeals for help for daughter’s operation

CAGRARAY ISLAND, Albay --- Salvacion Esleta, 36, mother of nine, a resident of Purok 1, Cabasan village, here is appealing for help for her 10-year old daughter’s operation, whose bone was broken after being hit by a falling coconut during a typhoon.

Salvacion’s daughter, Vanessa, a grade 4 pupil at the Cabasan Elementary School was hit by a falling coconut on her right arm, which cut off her upper limb.

The incident took place a day after super Typhoon “Rolly,” Salvacion said. Salvacion is jobless and so as her partner, Oscar Bombales, 39, an abaca stripper.

Oscar’s main source of income was completely gone after the abaca plantation was totally destroyed due to the successive typhoons that hit in Albay in the span of less than a month.

The couple has no means to bring their 10-year old daughter to the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital (BRTTH).

Vanessa was first brought to Bacacay Rural Health Unit for checkup.

Dra. Merlie C. Beltran, Bacacay municipal health officer, recommended to bring Vanessa to BRTTH for further examination, but Salvacion opted to bring their daughter to Cope General Hospital, a private hospital in Tabaco City for fear of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) as the BRTTH is designated by Department of Health as Covid-19 referral facilities in the region.

In an X-ray conducted at the hospital, Dr. Ruben E. Escober, a radiologist, found that that there is complete oblique displaced overlapping fracture involving the distal 3rd of the right humerus.

Small bony fragment is seen adjacent to the fracture site, the X-ray showed.

“I am sleepless for so many nights as my daughter’s right arm is swollen. She’s crying due to pain. I could not do anything because we don’t have money to bring her to the hospital for an operation. The doctor at Cope General Hospital told us that my daughter needs an operation,” she said. “I’m begging for help to support my daughter’s operation. I’m knocking at the doors of the well-off families to help me send my daughter to BRTTH for operation,” she said.

Aside from Salvacion’s concern for her daughter, their home was also destroyed by super Typhoon “Rolly.” “We’re helpless, our home is flattened to the ground, my family’s youngest child is 3 years old. Vanessa is in danger, I’m afraid of possible repercussions as the incident took place more than three weeks now and she’s enduring so much pain,” Salvacion said between sobs.

When asked if she can ask assistance from her relatives, she said that her relatives are all financially challenged including her husband’s family.

“My husband’s family gave us P1,000 for Vanessa’s hospitalization but we used the money for transportation and payment for x-ray. We don’t have other means specifically that the series of typhoons destroyed the abaca plantations where my husband works as a stripper,” Salvacion said.