Mae and Rico

Updated 1-30-'11  (scroll down)

Our lives, here at the Reach Homebase, have taken an unexpected and fairly dramatic turn...

Here’s the story as it has unfolded so far:

On the eve. of Oct 21, 2010 our Liaison officer, Rev. Ian Otbot, was contacted via cell phone by Pastora Bing Moreno, one of our students for the past 10 mo. from Montevista, Compostela Valley (ComVal) Province. She asked if she could bring an injured patient who fell from a ladder to our house in Davao the next day (on Fri. 10-22-10) to see Dr. Sam.

When she arrived, Jordan Boado, R.N. was the first to see and examine the patient, who turned out to be 9 year old Flora Mae Manuel, accompanied by her brother - Rico Manuel (age 12), Pastora Bing Moreno, and Belen Orquiza, Municipal Social Welfare and Development  case worker. Pastora Bing had told Belen about Dr. Sam and our team and Belen brought Flora Mae to see if Sam could fix her leg.

Belen said that Flora Mae’s left leg (femur bone) was broken 4 years ago, when Flora Mae was 5 years old. She said she was taken to a doctor initially but not taken for follow-up visits or further medical care. A deep bone infection developed in the leg and has been draining blood and puss for 4 years. Last June, 2010, Flora Mae began school for the first time – grade one. A few weeks into the school year, she was accidently pushed by another student (we were told) and the leg broke again when she fell. Again the parents, who are known to leave the children alone for days without much food did not take her to a doctor or hospital. In July, 2010, some relatives asked help for her from Social Services (MSWD) in New Bataan, ComVal. That’s when Belen got involved and took Flora Mae to the emergency room at Tagum Regional Hospital, in Tagum City – about 1 hour from Davao. She was treated as an out-patient, placed in a posterior splint, and sent home. When MSWD tried to follow up with her case, the family had moved and was not located again until the week of October 18, 2010.

Upon exam of Flora Mae, Dr. Sam told Belen that this was larger than what he could do, explaining to her that the child needed orthopedic surgery for her leg infection and broken bone – potentially many surgeries and lengthy rehab. Then Sam proceeded to see other patients. A few hours later, we (Sam and I) discovered that the social worker had left the 2 children at our house – with our nursing staff - for the weekend while she travelled back (4 hour bus ride) to New Bataan to get the paperwork together for Flora Mae’s admission to the hospital. Belen, the social worker, did not plan to return to our house until the following Wednesday (Oct. 27, ’10).

The first thing we did was to provide Flora Mae with some crutches (see photo above) to enable her to get around by herself, then we found some clothes for them, as Rico had come with none and Flora Mae had come with only a few. Thankfully, our neighbors, the Symanziks, have kids clothes to their ages and were able to give us a few things to get by until we could get to the store.

The next day (Sat. Oct 23, ’10), Sam and I (Sherri) took Flora Mae to East Asia Orthopedic and Rehab Institute to be examined by an orthopedic doctor there (Dr. Pagsaligan). His opinion was the same as Sam’s and he wrote a referral for her to be seen and treated at Southern Philippines Medical Center –the big government hospital in Davao City.

Sam and I spent much time with the children during the rest of the weekend to find out more about their situation and seek the Lord’s guidance.  It soon became quite clear that if this little girl, with a disabled, severely infected leg and no education, didn’t get help soon, there would be no hope for her future. Her brother, Rico, only has a 1^st grade education (at age 12), also. Our hearts were/are deeply touched by these two kids and we knew God had put these children in our care for a season to help them.

We were advised to write up a DVC (Deed of Voluntary Commitment) to be signed by the parents, stating exactly what Sam and I would provide, which we did – with an end date of June 1, 2011 (please note that this was changed upon our next visit with the doctor – keep reading). Then we travelled (4 hour bus trip – because 2 of our vehicles are being repaired) to New Bataan, ComVal Prov to meet with Belen, MSWD who took us to meet the parents, Avelino and Peling Manuel.

The father, Avelino Manuel, was quite willing to sign the DVC to allow the children to stay with us, but the mother, Peling Manuel, wailed and carried-on quite loudly at the idea – even though it was thoroughly explained to her about the needs of her daughter and the medical care she required. The understanding that that we’ve gotten is that the mother was the abusive one in the family. In the end, the mother agreed and the father went with us to the MSWD office in New Bataan to affix his thumbprint to the DVC, showing the agreement of him and his wife to allow the children to stay with us for the stated timeframe so that Flora Mae can get the medical care she needs and both children can get education.

Belen - DSWD and Avelino returned to Davao with us so he could see his children. Throughout the evening there was no interaction between father and daughter - not hardly even any sign of greeting and very, very little interaction between father and son. The next morning (Thu., Oct. 28, ’10) Avelino returned by bus to New Bataan and Flora Mae, Belen, and myself (Sherri) went to the hospital to see Orthopedic Dr. Valera. He was quite taken with Flora Mae’s case and took us to see Pediatric Ortho Dr. Reyes, who is a supervisor of Orthopedics at SPMC hospital and also at Davao Doctor’s Hospital. Dr. Reyes spoke rather sternly to the social worker, asking why she did not remove these children from the home permanently, saying to her, “…you KNOW this is abuse!” Dr. Reyes then turned to me (Sherri) and advised that we re-do the DVC document so that we could keep the children for a minimum of 2 years – because of the length of time needed for Flora Mae’s surgeries, physical therapy and rehab. It would not be good to be half-way through the process and have them taken back by their family. So, before the social worker returned to New Bataan that afternoon (Thurs, Oct. 28, ’10), we re-wrote the DVC to be up for re-evaluation on December 31, 2012.  She took copies back with her to be signed by the father, Avelino Manuel, then notarized and returned to us here in Davao.

We spent the rest of the day (Thur., Oct. 28) getting the required x-rays and labwork (at 3 different hospitals/clinics) needed for the Orthopedic team to determine the best way to proceed with Flora Mae. I was advised by Dr. Valera, at the end of the day to bring Flora Mae back to the hospital on Monday, Nov. 8 at 9 a.m. to possibly be admitted that day, Dr. Valera said they only do these surgeries on Thursdays and this week’s schedule was already full. We have been working hard to improve Flora Mae’s nutritional status in the meantime, to prepare her for surgery, (and of course, Rico’s as well). Both children are malnourished and far too small for their age (even by Filipino standards). Flora Mae only weighs 29 lbs (lower than the 1 percentile range for kids her age in weight and height – and weighing less than our Filipino friends’ 3 yr old daughter) and Rico is only 51 lbs (lower than the 2 percentile range)!

These children came to us in need of everything from (all levels of) clothing and shoes, to school supplies, to education and medical care. God is providing for these needs one-by-one:

• Some missionary friends gave us some clothing and toys for them
• Another missionary, Rev. Paul Barner, who has a school for children from low(est) income families has offered to pick them up daily and school them at no charge to us
• Dr. Reyes (mentioned above) is providing his services – and those of this team of doctors – at no charge, and will help us get a lower cost for hospital services.
• An anonymous donor has proposed a matching grant of $1,500 to begin to help with the surgeries and several churches are working to raise this right now!
• We have the daily ongoing medical care Flora Mae needs right here at our house/homebase
• As well as a school teacher on our staff who is willing to tutor them in the evenings to supplement their daily schooling in order to help them catch up with missed years of school.

God is so obviously involved in these children’s lives and they are already showing noticeable signs of improvement. We are so excited to see what God has in store for their future!

Their care is going to be an added expense in our already very tight budget, not to mention Flora Mae's continuing surgeries/medical needs. If you would be interested in helping with this, we would GREATLY appreciate it! For information about how to make a donation, please see our donation page on this website. Be sure to specify that your donation is meant for Flora Mae and Rico's care. And thank you so much!

11-3-10  Flora and Ricowere tested for Grade Level at BLC and remained there in school for the rest of the day. Flora started in Kinder I and Rico started in Grade 1. Both children are not officially enrolled due to Dep Ed regulations, but will unofficially audit the classes and complete assignments in order to help them catch up with their education. Cherry Nen Otbot, a school teacher, on staff with Reach International, will also tutor both children in the evenings, in addition to their schooling at BLC.

11-8-10 Nen Otbot and Sherri Evans took Flora Mae to the Orthopedic Conf. room at SPMC Hospital (as requested by Dr. Valera) to receive further direction regarding her care. There we visited with Dr. Valera and he told us to return on 11-10-10 to the SPMC Ortho Clinic so he could see her again and order the pre-operative lab work.

Nov 22 – Dec. 26, ‘10   Mae was admitted to SPMC hospital Orthopedic Children's Ward on Nov. 22, 2010 and hooked up to an I.V. to begin an antibiotic regimen before surgery.

We were told that she would have surgery approximately 2 weeks after beginning the I.V. antibiotics. If we did not admit her, she would never have gotten scheduled for the surgery, that’s just the way it is here at this government hospital.

Sherri, Sam, and our staff (whoever was in town and not out with the team) took turns rotating in shifts to stay with her in the hospital ward. Here it is required for every patient to have a “watcher” to stay with them 24 hours a day. It was a VERY long, long, long 5 weeks in the hospital before Mae finally was taken to surgery.

Our staff all left for their vacation on Dec. 23, returning to work on Monday, Jan. 3, 2011 and our daughter, Lindsey (age 17) travelled to the US to spend Christmas with her grandparents and older siblings. So, Sam and I (Sherri) sat with Mae for 12 hour shifts - Sam at night and Sherri during the day – with Mae’s brother, Rico. That’s how we spent our Christmas. We are very thankful for several dear friends (including, Earl – one of the nurses on our staff) who came several times to offer relief for a few hours at a time.

On 12-27-10 (5 wks after admission)  After waiting all day, Mae finally had her (1^st) surgery at 11 pm – ending at approx 2:30 a.m the next morning – to cut out the improperly mended and very infected section of bone in her left femur and replace that section of bone with bone cement with Gentamycin antibiotic. She has an external fixator to hold the leg together at this point. If everything goes well, she is to have another surgery around the first part of March to remove the bone cement and implant a rod into her bone.

On 12-31-10  Mae was dismissed from SPMC at 4 pm – released into Sam’s care for 2 more weeks of antibiotic IV’s – only because Sam is a physician and could continue her care at home, otherwise she would have been required to stay in the hospital for that time. Needless to say, Sam and I (and our team) were very much rejoicing to finally be out of that hospital!!

It was a long, difficult journey in the hospital - that isn’t over yet, as she will still require more surgeries – but we praise God that Mae is doing very well.

1-28-11 Shown here, in a photo taken on Jan. 21, 2011, with our Reach Team who've been so wonderful in helping with their care. Rico has been going to school 3 days a week at Barner Learning Center (at this time mainly to learn how to sit still and interact with other kids and teachers in that environment, as he has never had to do that before in all of his – almost – 13 years) and is tutored at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays by Cherry Nen Otbot – one of our office staff with a teaching degree from the General Baptist Bible College.

 Mae has now joined Rico, as of Jan. 24, in going to school and continues to be tutored by Cherry Nen, as well. Cherry Nen has been doing an amazing job working one-on-one with the kids and both of them are beginning to read and make great progress in the many areas that they are so behind in.

1-30-11

As of our measurements today, Rico has gained 12 lbs. since Nov 4, 2010. Mae had gained 11 lbs and grown 1 3/4" taller. The children are both doing very well and continue to thrive - THANKS to the efforts and prayers of so many people!! A huge thank you to all of you have been and continue to be involved in this!!!