A pre-Christmas story

Christmas is in the air – or is it? They’ve decked the malls as early as October (to inspire people to go out and shop till they drop perhaps?). So have you started doing your Christmas shopping?

Last year and the year before that, department stores creatively came up with gift packages below P50 and below P100 (yeah, signs of the hard times). For sure, there will be gift suggestions galore to choose from, if you want to veer away from the usual gifts you give Christmas after Christmas after Christmas (on top of the list are clothes and the immortal fruitcake, sometimes recycled many times over it just may end up with the original giver). But there are gifts that come not so much from the pursestrings as from the heartstrings. Such as Gifts for a Cause, a project of the Ever Gotesco Malls and Go Tong Foundation, Inc. in cooperation with Bisig Bayan Foundation.

Gifts for a Cause picks up where the late Go Tong, chairman of Ever-Gotesco Group of Companies, left off. Go Tong left his seven children – George, Jose, Nenita, Vicente, Cristina, Evelyn, and Lourdes – a department store empire. But his greatest legacy was the wealth of wisdom he imparted to his children. "Spend little on yourselves, but give generously to the needy," he would always tell his children, who continue to live by those words.

"Following in their father’s footsteps, the children lead such spartan lives, but they lavish their time and money on others," says Noemi Sta. Maria, marketing communication services manager, Ever Gotesco Group of Stores.

Bisig Bayan pitches in with an armload of aid. It’s the brainchild of Mel Tiangco, who funded Bisig Bayan’s initial projects from her personal pocket and shouldered the salaries of her staff in the first few months of its operations.

In its fourth year this year, Gifts for a Cause is heartily dedicated to helping children with cancer. On a balmy Tuesday, the kids, with their parents, gather for a pre-Christmas treat at Dulcinea on Tomas Morato. There we meet some of the survivors, who wear the scars of their bruising battle with cancer like a badge of courage.

Ever Gotesco and Bisig Bayan have joined hands to help these kids fight the Big C by giving them a large dose of TLC (tender loving care, of course).

"At our five branches, we were able to collect coins worth P212,000 which our customers had been dropping in donation boxes in the past two weeks," Noemi says with a big smile.

There’s six-month-old Selina Perez, who’s diagnosed with hepatoblastoma (liver tumor). Her cherubic smile does not betray the agonizing pain that’s tearing her tiny and frail (she weighs a mere 4.5 kgs.) body apart. "She’s had two chemotherapy treatments," says Selina’s father, Virgilio Perez, who works as a market helper. "She needs six more. A treatment costs P5,000."

Virgilio says he can be contacted at tel. 412-50-60.

There’s Derick John Divina, 4, who looks nimble despite his illness (he has acute myelocytic leukemia). His parents Bingle and Ding help each other in their cross-stitch business.

There’s Niño James Abad, 2, who has acute lymphocytic leukemia. His mother is a waitress while his father has not been in touch since his parents separated when he was only five months old. He grew up in his lola Vilma’s care, and his grandparents had had to sell their house in the province to support his treatment. His lola can be contacted in Cavite at tel. 515-48-60.

There’s Jose Mariano Perez, 4, also suffering from leukemia. He braved the hour-long traffic from his house at Purok 6, San Jose, Hagonoy, Bulacan to join the fete in Quezon City. And then there’s Richie Manalo, 2 years and 9 months old, who’s suffering from Wilm’s tumor (large mass on top of his kidney, giving him a bloated stomach). His father lost his job as messenger in a real estate firm because of his frequent absences. His mother sells kakanin if Richie is not confined in the hospital. The Manalos can be reached at tel. 329-23-80.

Other cancer survivors of Gifts for a Cause Batch 1999 are Beverly Bisnar, 3; George Calsita Jr.; Pauline Gevana; Artchie Iliw-iliw, 4; Ryan Ivan Asisten, 3; Marlon Cortez, 7; John-John Embate, 3; Henrick Antonio, 14; and John Renz Tamano, 1 year and 5 months old.

They’re all graduates of the School of Life where they’ve learned, only painfully well, some of the most bitter lessons in life at a tender age.

* * * Keeping track of anthrax

The word "anthrax" is enough to send us shivering in fear. We know of some people who dread opening their mail or any kind of envelope (except of course, the pay envelope). The best antidote vs. this chemical warfare, say experts, is to arm ourselves with an arsenal of information. Keeping track of anthrax, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued guidelines for the surveillance and control of anthrax in humans and animals. We’re reprinting them in part:

Anthrax is primarily a disease of herbivorous mammals, although other mammals and some birds have been known to contract it. Humans generally acquire the disease directly or indirectly from infected animals, or via occupational exposure to infected or contaminated animal products.

The causative agent of anthrax is the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, the spores of which can survive in the environment for years or decades, awaiting uptake by the next host.

The disease still exists in animals and humans in most countries of sub-Sahelian Africa and Asia, in several southern European countries, in the Americas, and certain areas of Australia. Disease outbreaks in animals also occur sporadically in other countries.

There are three types of anthrax in humans: cutaneous anthrax, acquired when a spore enters the skin through a cut or an abrasion; gastrointestinal tract anthrax, contracted from eating contaminated food, primarily meat from an animal that died of the disease; and pulmonary (inhalation) anthrax from breathing in airborne anthrax spores.

The cutaneous form accounts for 95 percent or more of human cases globally. All three types of anthrax are potentially fatal if not treated promptly.

Vaccines are available for animals and humans. However, in humans, their use should be confined to high-risk groups, such as those occupationally exposed and in some military settings.

Patient isolation is not required and there are no quarantine requirements. Dressings and other contaminated materials should be disposed of, preferably by incineration.

Antibiotic therapy usually results in dramatic recovery of the individual or animal infected with anthrax if given before onset or immediately after onset of illness. Antibiotic therapy may also be used for prophylaxis in asymptomatic patients believed to have been exposed to anthrax spores.

Meanwhile, WHO is also reviewing guidelines on smallpox vaccination in view of the current concern that the smallpox virus may also be deliberately used by terrorists to infect populations. The good news is that smallpox was eradicated almost 25 years ago by a WHO-led program. It now exists only as a stored virus at two research disease centers (one is in the US and the other is in Russia). However, recently, WHO Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland says that her office has been receiving inquiries on whether a mass vaccination would help protect people against infectious agents such as smallpox. Current WHO guidelines, updated in 1998, recognize the effectiveness of existing smallpox vaccines. They also detail the incidence of adverse side effects due to vaccination, particularly among people whose immune systems are compromised. The guidelines recommend that only individuals at risk of exposure (for example, laboratory researchers working on smallpox or human monkeypox) should be vaccinated.

A dose of information is surely worth a pound of cure.