Survivor

I'm posting this article from the Manila Times. It was written by Mondax, whom I've met in Baguio when I was covering the meningococcemia scare there. I used to call Mondax's circle of journalists, "the council of the elders" because it's his group which the younger journalists of Baguio look up to.

I had a great time in Baguio because of the hospitality of my peers there and it reinforced my belief about one of the more beautiful things about this job: you build bridges of friendship, a fact that tells you, that it's not doing your job that is paramount, sometimes it's how you do it and how you affect the people you meet along the way.

Mondax's group gifted us with two straight nights of "tribute". "For the friendship and special sensitivity that you've shown to the people of Baguio, which we greatly appreciate," said Mondax.

The story below was about this survivor whom we met in the course of our coverage in January. Helen is a meek, thin, 14-year old. She looked younger for her age, maybe due to malnutrition. Her body may be weak but not her spirits.

When I heard about her story, her surviving the disease, I was inspired to do a story on her. At that time, we were wrapping up our coverage and thought that it'd be quite fitting to end the series of stories with an inspiring story of Helen.

Her story, I hoped destroyed certain misconceptions which were 1. menigococcemia was so deadly no one could survive it (she did) ; 2. even if you survive a disease such as that, it's impossible to get over the experience.

In another sense, her story ran parallel with Baguio's story. Baguio was, undoubtedly, severely affected by the scare brought by the disease: hotel occupancies were down to zero, there were cancellations of bookings, tourist arrivals went down. But what's sad was these reactions had no basis. Sure, it sounded dangerous when you hear of admissions. But when you qualify the figures, it was not that scary. (I'll give you examples soon, the number escapes me as of the moment).

So Helen's story was, in many ways, Baguio's story as well and it's lesson was this: disease may overcome the body but it cannot destroy the spirit.

Saturday, February 05, 2005

‘Meningo’ survivor wants to walk again
By Ramon Dacawi, Northern Luzon Bureau

BAGUIO CITY: Fourteen-year-old Helen Mapili, who lost her limbs owing to complications of meningococcal disease last Christmas, has began her slow, painful process of walking again and going back to school.

The fifth of seven children of a market porter and a house help, Helen was still in pain when Rodrigo, her 49-year-old father, carried her into the nurses home of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) on Wednesday.

There, specialists, led by Dr. Penny Bondoc, made the assessments and measurements on her amputated legs.
“Helen’s next checkup here will be on February 7 and we just hope that by that time, her wounds would have healed,” said Baguio city health officer, Dr. Florence Reyes who, together with social worker Cynthia

Langagan, accompanied the girl to the PGH.

Bondoc said Helen has been considered a beneficiary of artificial limbs under a support program for indigent patients sponsored by the Rotary clubs of India and Makati, through their joint “Libreng Palakad” program.

Reyes said Rebecca Domogan, wife of Rep. Mauricio Domogan of Baguio, had made arrangements for the PGH to see if Helen could be fitted with prosthesis.

In her social case report, Langagan said the girl had just arrived home from school on December 6 when she experienced high fever and noticed rashes on her body. She ignored the signs, thinking they would go away, and went to the city market to sell vegetables.

That night, her parents took her to the Baguio General Hospital where she was eventually diagnosed of having meningo­coccemia. Her condition worsened, with the rashes turning into sores. To prevent the spread of gangrene, surgeons decided to amputate both her legs and, except for an uninfected thumb, all her fingers.

Helen was discharged from the hospital on January 8. Her will to survive led to her public identification through media coverage that gave a human face to the efforts of health workers to contain the disease, cases of which were reported in December and early January.

Her father is a native of San Fabian, Pangasinan, and her mother hails from Bauko, Mountain Province. Forced to quit school because of poverty, Rodrigo moved up to Baguio and worked as a baggage boy at the city market. There, he met his wife Mary Ann, an ambulant vendor who now works as a stay-out house help earning P200 daily wage.

Some of the couple’s elder children also had to quit school and, like Helen, engaged in vending vegetables to make ends meet. Two of them are married and with children.

As Helen was being carried out of the PGH in the arms of her father after the initial checkup, television reporter Joseph Morong of GMA Channel 7 arrived.

Helen had met him while he was here covering the meningococcemia issue. She had been silent, grimacing in pain, but suddenly smiled when Morong gifted her with a T-shirt and advised, “Magpa­galing ka ha.”

After she shall have been fitted with a pair of prosthesis and learned to walk on crutches, Helen would like to go back to class. She was in Grade IV at the Doña Josefa Cariño Elementary School when the disease hit her.

Her school behind the Baguio city hall is three kilometers from their house, but within walking distance to the city market, which gave her time to sell before and after class hours.

Sen. Jamby Madrigal, who visited her, has made arrangements for Helen’s college scholarship. Other Samaritans who want to help Helen achieve her dream may visit the Mapili home at Middle Quirino Hill.