No. 87: Franchesca Narvasa, 3, Imperforate Anus, Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC)
Franchesca, or Chesca as her parents call her, was born with imperforate anus. For about 4 years, the family has been back and forth to Manila to get treatment for Chesca at the PCMC. It has been a difficult journey for them, especially that they have no enough money to spend. The father is a farmer and earns mostly Php 250 a week. Despite the difficulty the family bear the struggles to come to Manila to get medical treatment for free for their child. They do not have relatives here and so they often sleep along the street side near the hospital and beg for money from street-passers. Though the major medical treatment is free, the medicines and colostomy bag are very expensive so they often use diaper to cover Chesca’s exposed intestine. The parents could stand the struggles and starvation but not the medical condition of their child.
As soon as Chummy Chum heard about little Chesca, sent right away cash assistance for her medical needs and nourishment, formula milk and grocery items to share with the family. What’s made Chesca more excited is the coloring book set with crayons.