HK$471,500 raised for Filipino boy’s liver transplant in Hong Kong  

12 July 2006

An appeal put out by the South China Morning Post to help a seriously ill Filipino boy get a life-saving liver transplant operation in Hong Kong resulted in a rush of donations from concerned individuals totaling at least HK$471,500 (approximately US$60,838).

"To me, it’s not a lot of money but it will save a boy's life," said an anonymous donor who sent a check for HK$100,000 to the South China Morning Post, after reading about the Filipino boy’s plight.

The Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong has received several phone calls from concerned individuals asking how they could help Louie Adrielle Perez, 7, after his condition was published by the South China Morning Post on 6 July.  His operation has been delayed until the required HK$1 million (around P7 million) deposit at Queen Mary Hospital was raised. Louie’s family was short of HK$300,000. As Louie is a Hong Kong non-resident, his parents had to deposit HK$1 million with the hospital before the transplant could be done.

Louie has biliary atresia, a rare liver disease, in which the bile ducts are infected and therefore cannot effectively drain the liver. The double operation, which is expected to be held within the month, will last 12 to 16 hours. The boy’s father will donate part of his liver to his son. Both father and son will undergo major surgical operations and will need at least three months’ recovery in Hong Kong.

Louie and his parents, Mary Jean and Ernanie Perez, arrived in Hong Kong on 26 June in preparation for the transplant operation at Queen Mary Hospital. But they had been able to deposit only HK$561,000 with the hospital, which was raised through a P2.5 million donation from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) and from collection boxes over the past two years in the Philippines. Another US$25,000 was donated by a US-based foundation. Another donor was Luis Macatangay, a Filipino prisoner at Shek Pik prison serving a 24-year sentence, who sent HK$300 for Louie through the Philippine Consulate. All donations were forwarded to Queen Mary Hospital.

On 12 July, SmarTone, one of the mobile service providers catering to the Filipino community in Hong Kong, launched a fund drive via SMS dubbed Handog Para Kay Louie (A Gift For Louie).  The campaign aims to raise funds for Louie’s liver transplant operation.

By sending a series of SMS appeals to its members, a Barkadahan sa SmarTone member who replies to the text message will automatically donate HK$5 for Louie.  The text message reads:  “Share your blessings & help Filipino boy Louie Perez in his liver transplant in HK. Reply this SMS to donate $5 from your SIM balance to Handog Para Kay Louie.” 

Consul General Alejandrino A. Vicente said that “the collective effort and charitable contributions of generous individuals and organizations have shown Louie’s family and the global community the true meaning of bayanihan.”

“Let us pray for Louie’s successful operation and for his speedy recovery, as well as for strength of body and spirit of Ernanie, Louie’s father, who will be donating part of his liver to his son,” he added.

Through representations made by the Philippine Consulate, the Perez family was also granted a three-month visa extension allowing them to stay in Hong Kong for the transplant and post-transplant procedures.

Louie’s former attending physician at the Philippine General Hospital, Dr. Vanessa de Villa, now a clinical assistant professor at the Division of Hepatobiliary/Pancreatic Surgery and Liver Transplantation at the Department of Surgery at the Queen Mary Hospital, will be part of the operating team.

Early this year, an anonymous Singaporean couple based in Hong Kong donated HK$250,000 for the medical expenses of 30-month-old Filipino boy, Mark Jairus Mendoza, who successfully received a part of his mother’s liver during a liver transplant operation on 9 March at Queen Mary Hospital.