A mother's fight for her child's life, and the cure the Philippines doesn't have yet

When doctors told Roda Shane Magat that her seven-yearold son, Ieauan, had a brain tumor pressing on his optic nerves, she refused to accept that there would be no treatment for that.

- By JEL SANTOS

Sleepless nights became months of relentless search for a treatment that could save him a treatment she would later discover didn't exist yet in the Philippines.

"Since si Ieauan po kasi na-diag-nose na po siya noong four years old pa siya, nalaman na namin na may tumor siya for MRI 'yun nga po may craniopharyngioma po siya (Ieauan was already diagnosed when he was just four years old. We found out through an MRI that he had a tumor; he was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma)," Roda said.

"Nalaman din po namin nung four years old siya na hindi na nakakakita yung right niya, so 'yun po 'yung una, pero nakakakita pa po yung left (We also found out when he was four years old that he could no longer see with his right eye that was the first sign, but he could still see with his left eye)."

Reporters from Manila first met Roda and Ieauan at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital in Singapore before her son's last proton treatment on Sept. 26.

Dr. Kuo Ann Lee, radiation oncologist at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital in Singapore, explained that condition: craniopharyngioma, a rare benign brain tumor, affects only about two in a million people. In children, it accounts for roughly five percent of all brain tumors.

"We use radiation to treat tumors, and radiation is frequently used for tumors in the brain because of the sensitive structures," Dr. Lee said.

"The surgeon cannot always remove everything, so radiation is frequently called to treat what the surgeon cannot remove, to provide tumor control."

For years, Ieauan's condition was managed medically. But his growth soon slowed as the tumor interfered with hormone production.