DUBAI // Jenny Enriquez believes she would not have recovered from leukaemia had it not been for the support of her colleagues and friends.
But while the 43-year-old Filipina is free from the disease, the high cost of treatment has severely affected her and her family’s life.
In February the mother of three went to hospital suffering severe abdominal pain. Eventually, a biopsy of the bone marrow confirmed she had advanced-stage lymphoma.
“Even as the doctor informed me, I could hear the word ‘death’ ringing in my ears,” she said.
But her co-workers, friends and church members rallied round and encouraged her to fight the disease.
“Although I was so far away from home, there were so many people who helped me. I have worked at my company for the past 13 years and they gave me my salary every month even though I was not working for six months. They also loaned me money for chemotherapy when I needed it,” said Ms Enriquez.
“My church, the Fellowship of the Emirates, was so good to me. At Dubai Hospital, my husband was not allowed to stay with me as only women were permitted. My church sent people to stay with me at night so I wouldn’t be alone.”
“I have witnessed so much goodness here that it has motivated me to help others. If I were back home in Philippines, I would probably have had to look for a job, but my organisation was helpful and did not replace me. They even threw me a welcome party when I resumed work.”
Ms Enriquez was so moved by the support for her that she felt she needed to spread a message of hope to other cancer sufferers.
She now takes time from her work as a receptionist for a software company to visit patients at hospitals, where she gives them small gifts, such as cash or phone cards to call their families. Her husband Manny, 50, helps out by driving her around.
Her problems are not over though.
The high cost of her chemotherapy meant she could not afford to keep a nanny for her three children, Darlene Faith, 8, Jonathan Emmanuel, 6, and Jeromy Miguel, 5. So her children were sent back to the Philippines to live with their grandmother in the Pampanga region of Luzon.
“After they went there, they asked us when they could come back and stay with us,” said Mr Enriquez, a technician for a telecommunications company.
Because the children are not fluent in Tagalog, they have to attend an expensive international school, which means Ms Enriquez is struggling to pay her medical bills. She owes Dubai Hospital Dh40,000 for her treatment.
“We could not send them to a public school. They were born in the UAE and speak in English. They would not know the language and would have suffered a culture shock,” Mr Enriquez said.
Nevertheless, Ms Enriquez considers this a temporary problem that she intends to overcome. She said she was thankful to be in good health and able to work again. The couple hope to raise funds to pay the hospital bills, then try to get their children back to Dubai to live with them.
arizvi2@thenational.ae
