PCSO head airlifted to Manila

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chairwoman Ma. Livia "Honeygirl" Singson-de Leon was airlifted to Makati Medical Center (MMC) past noon yesterday after a grueling nine-hour operation to remove a blood clot in her brain.

De Leon suffered a stroke while presiding over a meeting at a hotel in Baguio City last Thursday morning.

The 57-year-old PCSO chief was transported by a Lifeline Lear jet at around 1 p.m. from Baguio City and arrived at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City 30 minutes later.

De Leon is confined at the MMC’s intensive care unit.

Dr. Bienvenido Aldanese, head of the MMC’s neurosurgery department, told reporters that the 57-year-old De Leon would have died had the operation at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) been done five minutes late.

De Leon had been diagnosed with a ruptured cerebral aneurysm that affected the right middle part of her brain, which coordinates an individual’s social and non-mathematical skills.

"If we leave a large blood clot, it could compress the brain, destroy the brain... Aneurysm kills, it will not baby you. It’s a serious ailment," Aldanese said.

He said De Leon is doing well though "she is in a semi-conscious state. She is making remarkable progress. She is better now because she is able to move her limbs. She seems to be responding and her vital signs are stable, meaning normal."

Don de Leon, her eldest son and chief of staff in the PCSO, said he tried to converse with his mother. "They told me that she could hear and I could sense a response," he said, adding that he saw her hand move and felt her tighten her grip on his hand.

Aldanese said De Leon will have to be confined for an undetermined period of time and her rehabilitation may last at least three months. "We hope that she would regain all her functions," he said. Doctors are now focused on preventing infections and hydrocephalus as a result of the surgery from developing.

Don said his mother is a workaholic used to working 17 hours a day. He said before his mother suffered a stroke between 8 and 9 a.m. Thursday, "she slept at 2 a.m. and woke up at 6 a.m."

He also said no one has been appointed as officer-in-charge at the PCSO because the incident happened just two days ago.

Don is unaware if his mother will be fit to continue working at the PCSO.

"As the doctor said, we will take it a day at a time. Our primary concern is to get her out of this situation. If she will work again, it will have to come later. I know that she finds joy in her job but personally, I hope that she will be well-rested and not go back to work," he said.

Don also expressed his gratitude to President Arroyo for immediately sending her personal physician and surgeon to his mother’s aid. He also asked the public to offer prayers for his mother’s immediate recovery.

In Fighting Form

The surgery, which was supposed to last only five hours, dragged on for nine hours as neurosurgeons at the BGHMC removed a 60 cc. blood clot from De Leon’s brain.

At around 2 a.m. yesterday morning, De Leon’s younger brother Jeremias Singson said her blood pressure dropped to 30/48. He said that her condition later improved and doctors declared she was safe to be airlifted to Manila.

Dr. Francisco Hernandez, one of the neurosurgeons who attended to De Leon, earlier said they may have to wait for 72 hours after the operation to make sure her condition is stable enough for her to be airlifted.

De Leon, however, was in "fighting form" in less than 24 hours and doctors decided to declare her stabilized enough to be flown to Manila.

Photographers and cameramen who covered De Leon’s admission into the BGHMC nearly had a scuffle with De Leon’s bodyguards. Don, her eldest son, asked journalists not to take photographs or video clips of his mother while she was confined in the hospital.

While journalists waited for De Leon to be transported by ambulance to Loakan airport, her family created a diversion to be able to slip her out of the hospital.

A close family friend admitted that they planned to slip De Leon out unnoticed by making a "decoy" out of her elder brother, former Ilocos Sur governor Luis "Chavit" Singson, who conducted a press conference while the rest of the family transported her to the airport.

Doctors said De Leon had suffered a "simultaneous intracerebral hemorrhage," a type of stroke that is caused by the sudden rupture of an artery within the brain. Its symptoms begin with a headache followed by weakness, numbness and inability to move.

De Leon’s family and close relatives said that soon after the operation, she started to move her hands and feet, defying neurosurgeons’ earlier predictions that the stroke would leave her immobilized.

Jeremias said his "strong-willed" elder sister is doing fine after the operation, which doctors admitted had been very risky.