Story From A Heartbreak Father The children are everything to the parents. Upon seeing that their kid has to go through all types of sufferings, I think it’s almost impossible for anyone to keep his or her calm. Today, as Rebecca, my 2-year-old daughter, drops most of her hair as a result of chemotherapy, so is the gravity of my heart… and my helplessness. Fortunately, the timely helps came pouring in when we needed them most, from my beloved friends, in terms of funds, blood donation and moral support. To all your kindness and generosity, I, on behalf of my family, wish to extend to you our utmost appreciations. When the incident was first brought to light, my family and I found ourselves in complete shambles. Amid the chaos in the course of get things organized, we had also resorted to the help of the Almighty to lead us out of this unprecedented trauma and misery my family and I have ever faced. Now, twenty days have gone by, and as my daughter has been temporarily spared from the worst, maybe it’s time for me to narrate to you what has transpired over the past three weeks. About two months ago, Rebecca, my 2-year-old daughter began to develop symptoms of Leukemia. Green patches could easily form on her limps as she became less active and complained occasionally about leg pain. There were five kids in the house of my mother-in-law, aged between 2 and 5. Two were mine and the other three were my brother-in-law’s children. Two maids were employed by my brother-in-law and me to help my mother-in-law to manage the house. The children were always playful and we deemed it normal to find green patches on Rebecca’s body, until the eve of Deepavali. Rebecca’s gum began to bleed profusely. My wife and I immediately brought her to see a pediatrician in Cheras, and a blood sample was taken for laboratory test. Next day, Dr Ew called to tell us that the report did not seem good, and requested us to see him immediately. When my wife and I were informed that Rebecca was suffering from Leukemia, it’s like a thunder bolt! Both of us broke down in tears! Dr Ew asked whether we were insured, if yes, then we should see Dr Lin Hai Peng of SDMC immediately as he is a leading specialist on child leukemia in the country. If we were not insured, then we would have to go to a government hospital for treatment. Fortunately, my thoughtful wife had bought a medical insurance from Prudential which offers up to RM80,000 a year for medical coverage. Therefore, we immediately prepared for Rebecca to be admitted to Sime Darby Medical Centre (SDMC) straight away. While we were on our way to the hospital, Dr Ew also called up Dr Lin to get things organized so that my daughter could be admitted to the ICU and treated with urgency. When we first read the blood test report, we were not fully aware of Rebecca’s predicament. But after Dr Lin had taken a blood sample from the bone marrow for analysis, we were then told that the mutated white blood cells had spread all over Rebecca’s body, including the bone marrow. The normal count of white blood cells in the body is between 2000 and 5000. Rebecca’s was up to 200,000! The white blood cell in the body plays the role of a soldier to fight against the harmful virus and bacteria, beside removing the damaged cells. However, the presence of too much mutated white blood cells will adversely affect the function of the bone marrow to produce blood platelets, whose function is to help in clotting, such as in the case of bloody injury. According to Dr Lin, Rebecca was in serious conditions. The absence of blood platelets will cause non-stop bleeding, and further increase in white blood cells will lead to bleeding in the brain, resulting in stroke or ruptures of blood vessels. If that were to happen, my daughter might be completely paralyzed or become a human vegetable, even if she could go through the chemotherapy. Dr Lin is certainly most experienced and his timely treatments had managed to bring Rebecca back from the brink of death. Of course, the immediate prayers and positivism of our beloved relatives and friends had also contributed significantly in keeping the harmful cells at bay. As Rebecca was admitted to the hospital during the festive season, many medical staffs were on leave. It was only several days later that Dr Lin was able to finally report to us that the laboratory analyses showed that Rebecca was suffering from the 5th type of Leukemia known as AML M5, which is also known as Acute Myeloid Leukemia. According to Dr Lin, there are altogether 8 types of AML. The 5th type is rare and harder to treat because of the non-responsiveness of the mutated white blood cells towards chemotherapy. Anyway, he asked us not to worry too much as it can still be treated by bone marrow transplant which has a relatively higher rate of recovery. The normal priority treatment for leukemia is chemotherapy. Radioactive medicines would be introduced to kill the cells in the blood. The doctor explained that the process is like bombing from the air, which will kill every cell, regardless of whether they are good cells or cancer cells. Thereafter, the blood is rebuilt. If the mutated cells are found again, the treatment would be repeated until they are gone. Dr Lin is most experienced in treating child leukemia cases and must have encountered too many indecisive parents, which prompted him to resort to treat his patients immediately. The parents would then be told of the conditions later. The treatment opted by Dr Lin for Rebecca is known as MASPORE AML 2006 treatment protocol. Practised in Singapore and Malaysia, this protocol involves 4 to 5 phases of treatment. As my daughter was too young and unlikely to endure the radioactive medicines, Dr Lin had adopted a 10-day dripping therapy by introducing 100mg of Cytarabine (commonly known as Ara-C). The primary medicine is Ara-C and it is supplemented with other expensive medicines such as Daunorubicin and Etoposide. This is only the first phase. After a week, my daughter was finally out of danger and transferred from the ICU to the normal wards. It’s also time for me to approach the payment counter of SDMC for the bills. When the bills were handed over to me, I felt my head spinning again! A week in SDMC had cost me more than RM45,000! I knew SDMC is costly, but did not know that it could be that costly! A week had already used up more than half of our annual medical insurance coverage. If we had to stay here for a month, it would definitely exceed RM100,000! I approached Dr Lin for advice, as my insurance was not enough to cover the medical expenses. I asked him what the total cost of the chemotherapy is. His answer was not conclusive, as Leukemia might lead to other complications which have to be dealt with differently. He advised that we will have to take it one step at a time and not to be overly worried. The most important thing now is to save Rebecca. We agree with him. Yes, for our daughter, we are prepared to sacrifice everything. Dr Lin also said that he was from Universiti Hospital and the head of the child leukemia therapeutic team in the hospital was also his former student. He will help me to transfer Rebecca to Universiti Hospital. He consoled me that such arrangement is normal as I am not the first one who could not afford the high fees of SDMC. However, he wanted Rebecca to stay in SDMC for the 1st phase of treatment. Once out of danger, she will be transferred to Universiti Hospital. As far as we know, the facilities in Universiti Hospital are not bad. It is half-subsidized by the government and the chemotherapy fee there is also half of that of SDMC. During this time, my two buddies, Michael Meng and David Teo, had learned of my predicament and immediately called for donations of blood and funds on their facebooks. Here, I wish to extend my utmost appreciation for their timely and valuable helps and contributions. Thank you. I have never worried about the future, be it long or winding; we will arrive eventually. Nevertheless, the uncertainties that are beyond our control, are still cause for concern. Anyway, here again, I wish to thank you all for your invaluable helps and supports, be it morally or monetarily. Goodness begets goodness, and I am really touched by all your blessings and loves. From Tong Chee Hoe, wife Mok Susan and daughter Rebecca Tong. (NB: It’s estimated that the chemotherapy will cost RM150,000 to RM200,000. For bone marrow transplant, it will cost about RM250,000 in Universiti Hospital and about RM500,000 in SDMC.)
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 06:03:52 +0000
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