Donate any amount to help my mom's hospital bills
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My name is Ma and today, my mother passed away. She was 79 and her name is Gloria.
I am hoping to raise funds to help me in paying her hospital bills in Manila (Php1.2M or roughly AUD35K).
I don't expect anyone to give, as I'm sure it is also quite a struggle for everyone everywhere, at this stage of economic hardship. But I do want to ask for any help you can extend to me so I can have her death certificate be issued by the hospital and have a decent wake. You cannot have the certificate if you don't pay the hospital bills. She is in the funeral house, embalmed but no room reserved for a wake. This wake is an opportunity to celebrate her existence and the great mother that she was to me.
I remembered that in the last week of June, my 4 balikbayan boxes arrived in Manila (Bulacan). These boxes are quite traditional in Filipino culture as we stuff all the items that we can send back home. Items that are imported have always been viewed of great value. However, my items are all those "on sale" from Woolies, Chemist Warehouse or Aldi...still great value, according to her. She loved the following:
1) Uncle Toby's Oats (but she still calls it Quaker Oats because that's what we have in the Philippines)
2) Long-life Full cream milk (we only have powdered milk as the most available; anything liquid is expensive)
3) Woolworths Spring Water (she loved it because she would imagine herself being in Australia drinking that water; she said it has a refreshing taste)
4) All Nivea items (lotion and moisturiser) from Chemist Warehouse
5) Splenda (she was diabetic and she felt special every time she would open a sachet; you know why? because she knows it's expensive)
6) and anything from Australia even if 'Made in China'.
I only learned recently that when she was young, they would do laundry for many houses just to get by. She was sent to another province so she can go to school thru her uncle's help because my grandmother was struggling to provide. She never told me until June of this year when I gave her my mother's day gift box. It was a good gift box, it made her cry. That's when I realised that I have not known her that well. I was so pre-occupied with my own life that I forgot the big help she gave me when I was growing up (food, shelter, education) not asking for anything in return.
She was a good person and while I did hope that she would continue on, her body didn't handle the complications well. She had a stroke and left her with a blood clot on the left brain that's why she can't raise her arms nor move her fingers. She had pulmonary embolism (a blood clot that spread to her lungs). She had a weak heart then the oxygen levels start to become too low...and then a flatline in 3 separate occasions until her heart gave up.
I cannot do much. I have already sent everything I've got to assist with her bills. I'd like to see her but going home means paying for airfares; something that I cannot afford to do right now. I am lost for words. I don't even know what to do from here onwards until I get paid next month (sounds familiar, I know).
To anyone out there who can help me, please do.
Thank you.
Ma
Organizer
MA DOMINO BUCALA
Organizer
Mount Pritchard, NSW