Anyway... Paul Estares is sick now.
He's this Filipino kid I've been trying to get to medical help. I've been making phone calls and sending emails on behalf of his Mom, and it seems that she can get discounted care, but not free. No Medicaid there. Social services there is saying, well, his case is complicated. I am getting this from social service organizations over there too. It seems they have decided that keeping him alive costs too much. His parents are not rich people. The dad drives a taxi. They live outside Manila in a neighborhood where the nearest phone is several blocks away.
Paul was supposed to get some lab tests late last year, which had to be cancelled when his parents could not come up with the money - 15,000 pesos, which turns out to be $268 US. His Mom wants me to get him to the US for treatment, but I figure, first let's just get the tests done. Maybe he only needs a different antibiotic. So I am passing the hat, here and over at prunebelly.org.
C'mon you guys, let's just do it :)
If he turns out to need more medical care than a change of antibiotic then I will make some more phone calls and send some more emails and try to get some airline to donate a ticket and find out what he needs for a medical visa (unless Tim can tell me). But who knows, maybe that's all he needs and we can solve the whole problem right here, before the PBSN people even get back to me. I would get some grins out of that.
Some cynic out there is probably thinking that I am being scammed. I don't think so. I have talked to the pediatric urologist that did surgery when he was a baby. One of the doctors I sent email to has managed to get the mother on the phone, and that doctor thinks the kid needs to get to the States. I don't want use HoF bandwidth to post all the emails I have about this, but if anyone would like to look at them, I do have all of them here.
I have started a Paypal account for the PBSN Children's Medical Fund, under [EMAIL PROTECTED] Paul is the current applicant. Should the account receive funds in excess of what is needed for Paul's lab tests they will be applied to his medical bills if applicable. If I wind up with a surplus beyond Paul's medical needs I will let it earn interest and use it for similar children. The issue of prune belly children in third-world countries, and in the US without insurance, has come up before from time to time. I will pay out from the account only to a medical facility or pharmacy.
By the way the PBSN (prunebelly.org) is a non-profit organization duly registered with the United States federal government, and all contributions are tax-deductible as charitable donations from your United States taxes. I will make sure that any donor that wants one gets a pretty little receipt from our treasurer.
Thank you,
Dana
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