HAPI-C visited the Pontillo family, a fellow hemophilia members afflicted by the recent typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro city. We extended some financial support for the family, solicited from some kind-hearted sponsors.
HAPI-C visited the Pontillos after their school hours.
Kenneth Borromeo (right-most) shares his surreal experience when the flash flood hit his town.
The Pontillo family, composing of Eva and her two sons, Raven (8), and Renzo (15), had been living in their relative's home after the flash flood made their house uninhabitable.
During the flood the water rose to about 12 feet tall, with all of them having to sit on the tin roof and hoping it won't be blown by the typhoon. Luckily none of them were seriously injured, though their knees and ankles were swollen days after.
The house of Eva Pontillo's mother after the flash flood
Damage inflicted by Typhoon Sendong
According to the mother, life has been particularly difficult for them even before the flash flood.
She has been raising her 2 hemophiliac children as a single mother for over 4 years. I admire her, for not giving up on her children. Eva also told me that never has she have ever been in a conversation with another hemophilia carrier mother. I gave her some advice on how to take care of her children with hemophilia, such as advising them not to wear flat slippers and shoes as the pressure in that position is not good for them. I also taught her the standard "RICE" first aid. After our chat, Eva took us to the evacuation center to take a look at the people there.
At a gymnasium used as the evacuation center after the flash flood.
Our trip to Cagayan went on smoothly as a hemophilia patient and occasional volunteer- Kenneth Borromeo, 28, is originally from Cagayan de Oro and now based in Cebu. He seems to know every nook and cranny in his hometown, remembers the roads even after the flood radically changed the landscape. (Kenneth was also a victim of the flood; he briefly came home to Cagayan during December when the typhoon hit their town.) We visited his grandmother who was at the hospital; she caught a viral infection from trying to clean the house after the flood had swept away).
Visiting Kenneth's grandmother at the hospital
