ISABELA CITY, Basilan, Nov 16 (PIA) – A 13-year old boy suffering from a serious medical condition gets a chance of a normal life with the help of the Western Command (WESCOM).
Third-grader Hinth Tibuasan, a Tagbanua native who lives in Bgy Napsan, Puerto Princesa City is suffering from a disease that causes an obstruction in his intestines.
The 6th Civicl Relations Group of the AFP disclosed that through the initiative of WESCOM Commander LTGen Juancho M. Sabban AFP, the boy will be brought to a hospital in Manila where he will receive an operation to treat his medical condition.
Because of his condition, called Hirschsprung Disease, Hinth could not defecate normally, particularly since his rectum is closed.
A colostomy has been performed on him, which allows stool to leave his body through an opening in his abdomen into a pouch that has been attached to the opening.
Ivaristo Tibuasan, the boy’s father, said Hinth was diagnosed with the disease two days after he was born and has been living with that pouch in his stomach ever since.
“We are poor and we could not afford the operation needed to correct his condition,” shared the boy’s father in Filipino, who provides for his 11 children by engaging in slash-and-burn farming.
The disease has also made making friends for Hinth impossible because other children would drive him away because of the smell of the pouch attached to the opening in his abdomen. Some of his child’s classmates, Tibuasan related, would even try to pull the pouch. In the eyes of his classmates, that pouch made him different from the rest.
His condition has also adversely affected his studies. He was supposed to be in high school already but because of the disease, he could not concentrate on his lesson which resulted to him failing every end of the year which is why he is still in third grade.
Hinth needs a surgical procedure which will remove the segment of his large intestines that lacks nerve cells and connect the healthy segment to his anus.
Tibuasan said it was Major Neil Anthony Estrella, WESCOM Spokesperson, who referred his son’s medical problem to LTGen Sabban, who in turn coordinated with one of the biggest broadcasting networks in the country to bring the boy to Manila and perform a surgery on him in one of the hospitals there.
WESCOM will provide the plane tickets to and the accommodation of the boy and his father in Manila and will also extend a financial assistance to them for their stay in the big city.
Tibuasan said the generosity shown by LTGen Sabban changed his perspectives on the military. “We used to be afraid of the soldiers and every time we see them, we only see their guns,” Tibuasan said in Filipino. “But the help they have extended to my son made me realize that they can be our partners in improving our welfare,” he added.
Tibuasan was profusely thankful to WESCOM, particularly to LTGen Sabban, for helping them give his child a chance to live a normal life.
He and his son will be flying to Manila on November 12 and will be staying there at the WESCOM Liason Officer’s house until November 21, after the surgery is done. (JPA/6CRGAFP/RVC-PIA9 ZBST)
