Young leukemic girl with months to live beats odds, keeps fighting

Sheryn Lysa Caoili

Sheryn Lysa Caoili was just 2 years old in September 2018 when the doctor treating her for stage 4 mixed malignant germ cell tumor (MMGCT) told her parents she had only three to five months to live.

“The doctor said we should just give Lysa whatever she wanted to make her happy. I could not stop crying because I did not want to believe that we were going to lose her. There were also times when I did not feel like praying anymore because it felt like the Lord was not listening anyway,” her mother, Sheryl, told the Inquirer.

She recalled that her daughter was 9 months old in June 2017 when she felt a lump in her buttocks. But even then, money was always tight with her husband, the only breadwinner in their family of six, so it took two months before she finally took her baby to the Philippines Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) in Quezon City. By this time, Lysa was having difficulty urinating and moving her bowels while her stomach became bloated. When a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test and computed tomography (CT) scan showed that the young girl had MMGCT, Sheryl said she was in shock. “I did not know who to mind first—the doctor who was giving me instructions or my baby who was crying.”

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Lysa immediately started chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumor and several times a month, she and her mother would travel from their home in Samal, Bataan, to PCMC for treatment. When there was no improvement in her condition, the doctor switched her to paclitaxel, a more potent form of anticancer medication, but there was no change either, even after six rounds of chemotherapy.

“The doctor said the tumor had spread to Lysa’s lungs. She told us our daughter just had a few months left and switched her medication from intravenous to oral chemotherapy so that treatment could be done at home. By this time, Lysa was already very weak and bedridden,” Sheryl said.

Not ready to give up just yet, the couple borrowed money while Sheryl sold snacks so that they could buy Lysa’s medicine. “I could see that she was fighting and she wanted to get better,” she said.

After about three months, Sheryl noticed that her daughter looked and felt better. “She started playing. She was no longer weak.” Cautiously optimistic, she said she started praying more. “I must have gone to most of the churches I know. At Quiapo Church, I walked on my knees from the door to the altar. I didn’t care who was looking at me because I was praying hard for my daughter to survive,” she added.

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Nearly five years later, Lysa is now 6 years old and a Grade 1 student. “Her favorite subject is mathematics. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up. That’s probably because she grew up around doctors because we were always in the hospital as she was growing up,” Sheryl said.

As advised by the doctor, Lysa continues to undergo oral chemotherapy. “She drinks her medication every day for 21 days, followed by a one-week break from treatment. Then we repeat the cycle again,” her mother explained, adding that the family spends P28,631.45 a month for her medicines alone.

On top of this, the young girl must also undergo an MRI and CT scan every six months (with a total cost of P23,000) and a blood exam every three months (P200) to monitor the tumors in her body.

“I hope that there will be good people who will help us so that my daughter will get better,” said Sheryl, who can be reached at 0935-4033313. Donations can be deposited in the Landbank account of her niece, Lyrehs Lucille Inton, with savings account no. 2727031211.

— Stephanie R. Asuncion

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