Doctors, FVR urge Filipinos: Share the gift of health, be an organ donor

"At the hospital, getting tested" is not something most people want to say when asked where they spent their birthday, but consider what a great gift good health really is.

Dr. Reynaldo Lesaca Jr., transplant psychiatrist, urged the public to think about the benefits of getting a blood and urine test annually—a helpful reminder of which would be one's birthday—during the launch of REGALO Organ Donation on Thursday.

REGALO, which stands for Renal Gift Allowing Life for Others, is a campaign to raise awareness about kidney health, fight stigma against donating organs, highlighting methods to prevent kidney failure, and attracting financial support for the cause.

In aid of REGALO, former president Fidel V. Ramos spoke about living life with just a single kidney. Ramos lost his kidney after contracting tuberculosis in the 1950s when he was 22 years old.

Sixty-six years later, he is alive, hale and hearty—and cracking jokes.

"I have one very healthy kidney—it's on the right," Ramos explained, "It's a very big, very healthy kidney and I would like to donate it to somebody...but at the right time."

FVR shares what it's like to live with just one kidney pic.twitter.com/3cS2uLcSjL

— Aya Tantiangco Miura (@ayaruim) August 25, 2016

"This is our duty as Filipinos," he said, adding his own twist to REGALO's call for sharing, caring, and giving. For Ramos, giving involves being daring, and he dared the public to donate.

A very special greeting from FVR pic.twitter.com/0KpRXw11UN

— Aya Tantiangco Miura (@ayaruim) August 25, 2016

Kidney Foundation of the Philippines executive director Dr. Remedios Uriarte pointed to constricting policies and guidelines, lack of information and education, misconception and superstition, and minimal funding as the main reasons why REGALO faces an uphill climb. However, she stressed that it is a challenge they are more than willing to take.

"We have to sustain the information campaign. We have to educate people properly about organ donation," Uriarte stated, explaining that they still combat superstitions about souls not being allowed to enter heaven because they are "missing a few parts."

Donor Jeffrey Almandres gave an emotional speech during the launch, sharing his experience with the stigma. He recounted his father's hostile reaction over donating just blood, but he stood his ground and continued to do what he thought was right.

His father even refused to sign the waiver consenting to the operation and Almandres ended up making his boss sign for him.

Jeffrey Brown Almandres shares his experience with the stigma over donating a kidney pic.twitter.com/tjxzqVKe8A

— Aya Tantiangco Miura (@ayaruim) August 25, 2016

Speaking at the media briefing for REGALO, organizing committee head Dr. Romina Danguilan revealed that 28,215 patients were on dialysis in 2014 and another 13,947 added to that number in 2015.

Only 475 patients received transplants, which Danguilan described as "the best treatment for kidney failure" because it provides the highest rate of survival and highest quality of life for the patient.

"Most of us are born with a pair of kidneys and we can easily donate one of these kids and lead a normal life," Danguilan said.

Living donors only need to return to the hospital once a year for a checkup and would very likely lead normal lives—or an extraordinary one, like FVR's.

Aside from being a living donor, Danguilan urged the public to carry a donor card.

"In case something happens to you (and you end up in a hospital), if you carry an organ donor card in your wallet or on your person, the hospital personnel are aware that you want to give your kidneys," she explained.

She further urged members of the public to share the decision with friends and family, explaining that even with the donor card, your next of kind will still be asked to confirm your choice to donate.

REGALO is a joint partnership among the Maria Corazon Torres Y Javier (MCTJ) Foundation, Kidney Foundation of the Philippines (KFP), and Kidney Transplant Association of the Philippines (KITAP) with the help of Novartis Healthy Care Philippines. — BM, GMA News