Salute to the
first leukemia foundation

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor ERIC T. LORETIZO Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

We salute the birth of the first adult leukemia foundation in the country to be established in Dumaguete City this month.

In the Department of Health 2005 reports, leukemia, or cancer of the blood, is ranked as the fifth killer disease in the country -- fourth among males and sixth among females.

The foundation, dubbed as the Erwin P. Cabanag Adult Leukemia Memorial is dedicated solely for adult leukemia victims and their families and will help raise awareness in the community about leukemia and its symptoms. The foundation will also help patients explore treatment options in the country and abroad. Eligible patients will be recommended to the National Institute of Health in Manila or to the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland in the States.

Foundation founder Dr. Erlyn Cabanag-Demerre said that bone marrow transplant is the recommended modality of treatment for cure of leukemia but the cost of treatment and case fatality rate is high. In the Philippines, a bone marrow transplant costs as much as P5 million for uncomplicated cases and P8 million for complicated cases.

The success rate of bone marrow transplant in our country, however, is only 40 percent while in the United States, it has gone up to already 95 percent. We welcome the establishment of the foundation in Dumaguete and pin our hopes that it will ease the pain of those who have acquired the disease and those who have been diagnosed early as they seek cure for their ailment.*