CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A day-care worker in Barangay Poblacion, Nawaan, Misamis Oriental has appealed for assistance for a learner who is suffering from visual impairment.
Zarlina Suson-Bacadon, a day-care worker at the National Child Development Center in Nawaan, posted a Facebook status on Wednesday, September 27, describing her learner Janine and how promising and active she is in their activities despite her condition.
JANINE (third from left) playing with her classmates at the National Child Development Center in Barangay Poblacion, Naawan, Misamis Oriental. (Photo courtesy of Zarlina Suson-Bacadon)
These prompted her to encourage the people to help Janine's brighter future.
Bacardon said posting the matter on social media is her simple way to raise funds, with the approval of the parents, for the child’s operation, which will cost around P88,000 based on a quotation from a private hospital.
“Her case is treatable, and the parents are really interested in treating her because she actually underwent a previous operation when she was a baby and needs to be followed up now,” Bacadon told the Manila Bulletin on Thursday, September 28.
Janine's parents, who are both utility workers at Mindanao State University in Naawan, told Bacadon that their child has an inborn cataract, which resulted in her completely losing sight in her right eye. Janine can still see with her left eye.
According to the World Health Organization, cataract is a “clouding of the lens in the eye that normally affects vision.” It can occasionally form in a child before birth, after an eye injury, as a result of inflammation, or as a result of other conditions, including glaucoma and diabetes.
The 2018 Philippine Eye Disease Study (PEDS) showed that cataract is one of the major causes of visual impairment among Filipinos, which affects about one million people and leads roughly 300,000 to need cataract surgery.
Early this year, Bangsamoro Transition Authority Member of Parliament Khalid M. Hadji Abdullah conducted a free eye cataract operation in Lanao del Sur and targeted 200 indigent patients as part of his medical outreach program.
Bacadon, who has been a day-care worker for 15 years, said they already asked for help from the local government of Naawan, which enabled them to have the child examined through a check-up last month. Because of this, the day-care worker learned of Janine’s condition.
Although Janine has been living like a typical normal child, Bacadon still feels that there's something lacking in the child's life, which pushed her to help her family with her immediate treatment to avoid complications as she grows older.
“That’s why I am appealing to those people who have good hearts to help us by donating any amount so that we can collect the said amount for the child’s operation for her brighter future,” Bacadon said.
Bacadon said donors can send their donations to GCash account 09351470530 (DI***A S.). She asked donors to send a screenshot to her Facebook account for monitoring and acknowledgement.
The day-care worker said she uses her sister’s Gcash account as she does not have one as well as the parents of Janine.
She assured that the money will be given to the recipient. “Let's help Janine see the whole wide world clearly and totally.”