Wounded warriors

I recently received a copy of a statement issued by the Philippine Alliance of Patients Organization and it reminded me of all those patients who have had to form their own lobby/support group just to get people to help out. So, for today, I'd like to share what I've discovered from the patients themselves:

- CITO BELTRAN

Unlike real soldiers, they don't get to take home leaves or finish their "tour of duty." They are stuck there. Many of them don't have a "logistics division" meeting their every need, and very few can rely on medics and base hospitals for medical attention.

Many of them did not train, volunteer or "Sign-up" for active duty. They simply found themselves fighting the fight of their life or standing in the gap for their loved ones, trying not to end up as casualty or statistics. The rest of us can only send help by way of supplies, cash, care packages and lots of prayers.

We too get scratched or bruised, but they are the "wounded warriors" fighting the different types of cancer, the "one in a million disease," the heart disease from birth, the genetic imperfection, the mental health challenge, visual impairment or loss of sight, that those in the "normal" world don't see, don't know and can't understand.

The reason is because we don't talk enough about it, we are uncomfortable discussing such grave, life-threatening medical issues. The media and government only celebrate or observe and feature diseases as special days in a week or a month.

We talk about the disease like a science class presentation in high school. How to recognize, how to treat, etc., but rarely do we talk about the physical, mental, emotional, financial even spiritual struggles of a person with such life-threatening condition. Sadly, the patient's family and caregivers are overlooked and left on their own.