Trooping: Hospital Visit - PGH Visit with BPP

9 June 2008
by TB-1870 Regina Layug

We took advantage of the holiday and hopped on over to PGH in Manila, to visit the pediatric cancer ward again. Captain Karen Kunawicz had been preparing for this visit for weeks, accepting donations of cash, toys, books, clothes, diapers, canned food, juices, etc., and packing them carefully in little packages so that everyone would get a fair share of the loot.

Monday's visit was in the ward, where many of the kids were lying in their beds, IV tubes stuck in their arms, oxygen masks hiding their smiles. I was so relieved to be wearing a helmet. Though we'd visited before, and I knew what to expect, it still tore at my heart to see the little babies, so small and fragile, already having to fight for their lives. They were inside incubators and tubes of all sorts were keeping them hooked up to machines that kept them alive. Thank goodness for the helmet hiding my tears.

Fortunately, some of the older kids were a little healthier and livelier, and had the energy to play, to laugh and joke. A few were afraid, and would cry if we came too close to them. But more were happy to see us, as we could see from the smiles they managed. There was one little girl whose hair had probably fallen out because of chemo. She wore one of those head kerchiefs with fake hair attached to it. She looked so pretty with those dark brown curls, and she smiled so sweetly when I passed by her bed that I had to stop and play. She giggled when i tickled her gently, and I was so happy to be able to make her laugh for a few minutes.

Another kid I was playing with laughed when I picked up his toy dinosaur, and I pretended it was biting him. Then the nurse arrived with two syringes full of medicine, which she injected into that tube in the IV. I saw him cringe as each syringe was emptied, and I held his hand and stroked his back while the nurse went about his work. After the nurse left, I played with him until he smiled again.

Captain Karen's retinue included Captain Jack (Hank) and Will Turner (Patton), as well as the other pirates, Lynn and Diana. Helping with the giveaways and picture-taking were Mark, Nick, Jon, Duds, and Paul. From the 501st there was me, Oneal, Ron and Beej.

Alec and Kasuy also arrived later, and they joined us for lunch and 168 shopping. Hopefully we can coordinate with Nyx for more visits to the cancer ward and the outpatient kids in the future. :)

Many thanks to Captain Karen for organizing this visit. Thanks also to Nyx for helping us secure a dressing room, and for always looking for ways to help cheer up the kids. Thanks to nurse Celia Tubig for accommodating our rowdy bunch, and to the nurses and doctors at the ward for taking care of the kids. And thanks to Paul for taking photos. :)

We'll probably be visiting them again in a few months, so if you would like to contribute, join us, tell a story, anything, just holler. :)

photos here: http://rejjventress.multiply.com/photos/album/176/Trooping_PGH_Visit_wit...