Email 135: Needs Support and Prayers

Posted by Pozziepinoy on 3:37 PM

Hi Pozzie..

I am glad I was able to read your blog about HIV cases. I was surprised when I knew that my brother 26 is HIV positive. Last May he was diagnosed with PTB and last October with pneumonia. This time he was confined in RITM Alabang because he has CMV retinitis. We just got his confirmatory test last Monday Nov 26, 2012 and he is HIV positive.

I don’t know how to respond to this kind of situation since I never expect it will happen to him. I just want to ask all of you who support HIV patients to please include him on your prayers so that he can survive this kind of illness. I just want to ask where we can ask for financial assistance for his treatment. He had stopped working due to his illness. I don’t know if until when he will stay in RITM.

I don’t know much of whom I can ask for help regarding this matter. I am glad I found your blog.

Thanks to you.

XXX


POZZIEPINOY’S RESPONSE


Hi XXX.

Thank you for your email. I am glad you were able to find my blog. I wish you can find all the answers here. 

Let me say to you first that your brother is blessed to have somebody like you who have a kind and loving heart. With all the love and support coming from you and your family, I am pretty sure that your brother will recover fast. Give him all the strength and positive attitude and he can rebound fast from his present condition.

Like your brother, I was bedridden before with a recurring pneumonia and my doctor said that I was already on my deathbed. But I recovered, because I focused on getting well and my entire family were there behind all my struggles. A few months later, I was back to work and 6 months after, my immune system almost recovered to normal levels. The key was my faith in my doctors, the medicines and in myself that I will recover.

You guys can do the same. For now, he needs to get treatment for his infections which can really weaken his immune system more. After undergoing tests and CD4 count, the HIv doctors in RITM will then determine if he will be prescribed with ARV's, the treatment for HIV.

I understand your predicament. CMV Retinitis treatment is very costly. Usually the medicine alone is around P7,000-P8,000 per day and treatment is for 3 months. 

This is what I can do to help you. We have a good contact in PCSO in cases like this. Since he is confined in RITM, go to RITM-ARG and look for Maram Bartolome and Ate Beth. Tell them that  Pozziepinoy sent you and ask them how you can get medical assistance. They are the ones who will prepare all the documents and then when everything is ready, Dr. Ditangco will contact me for endorsement.

People from RITM-ARG are willing to help your brother. We have been partnering for a year now and all of them have good hearts who are willing to extend their hands to those who are needing. All you have to do to approach them so you will know your options. 

Trust me, your brother is in good hands there. While he is undergoing treatment, you guys need to empower yourselves by educating yourselves about the disease, by reading and asking from the HIV doctors and nurses.

Like what I do to all the PLHIV's and their families that I encounter, I will pray for your brother. I know my readers and those who I have helped before, who are stable now, will also do the same.

I hope I was able to answer your concerns. Feel free to email me again if you have other questions.


Stay healthy,
Pozziepinoy


"WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.
NO PLHIV is alone with his or her struggle with HIV!"

-Pozziepinoy-


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