One Big Fight for Abby

On September 18, 2016, Abby's Nephrologist diagnosed her with End Stage Renal Disease, a Stage 5 Kidney disease, which is the most severe stage of kidney damage. The only remedy her Nephrologist recommends is Kidney Transplantation. For the meantime, she was prescribed a 4-hours a day, 3 times a week Hemodialysis treatment to filter her body waste efficiently and avoid dangerous buildup of toxin that may create fatal complications. Our world has been turned upside down since that day.


Gabrielle Anne "Abby" U. Gabaton is our eldest daughter among four children. She is currently in 3rd year college in Ateneo De Manila University, taking up BS Management Engineering(BSME) and a double major in AB Economics-Honors. She is a Merit Scholarship awardee (top 40 of ACET takers) and a consistent Dean's Lister (First Honors), which earned her a full scholarship grant.


She was an achiever since her preschool and a consistent Top Honor Student. Eventually, she graduated Valedictorian in both elementary and high school in a graduating class of more than 600 students in Pasig Catholic College. In 2010 she was part of the Philippine Team to the International Mathematics Competition in Singapore where she won the only GOLD Medal for her level.


She’s an amazing lady with great potential, and we hope to make her continue inspiring others. She dedicates some of her time teaching young kids from public schools to introduce new learning and ideas. It is her way of giving back the favors she received by helping and reaching out to others, and contributing to society in some creative ways.


Right now, she is in a lot of pain and sacrifices. It has been continuous and progressive since September of this year, since her 10-day confinement. Believe me, that was the longest week of our life, when her creatinine was very high at 9.2 mg/dl way above the normal range of 0.5-0.8 mg/dl. Doctors had to catch when her creatinine level was below 4 for Biopsy so she had to undergo emergency dialysis for three consecutive days. Also her hemoglobin has been very low so she had blood transfusions. Currently she goes to  NKTI from 11 pm to 3 am dialysis sessions every Monday, Thursday and Saturday. She has grown weaker but despite of her condition, she continues attending her classes and coping up with her missed lessons.

This newest challenge in our life has moved us closer to God. We can feel His presence every moment of our lives. We have witnessed God's miracles, on how He listens to prayers of the multitude. Abby's suspected complications were ruled negative. First, Pneumonia: chest x-ray result manifests presence of water on her lungs initially but thorough evaluation proved negative result. Second, Lupus: Abby was complaining of general body weakening, which is a common symptom of this chronic disease but her Antinuclear Antibody (ANA) test showed negative result. One evening, the doctors assigned to Abby have panicked since she has manifested a seizure, her eyeball straight upward as in the state of delirium. She was immediately processed for an MRI scanning but thanks God, the result showed no damage on her brain.

It can be recalled, that two days before Abby has manifested edema, (swollen face and legs) and complained of generalized body weakness, our family has confirmed our commitment to serve God in our community's Family Retreat. With an internal jugular catheter (IJC) on her neck vein and a bagful of medicines, Abby joined the family serving the Lord for a 3-day weekend retreat in Tagaytay City.


During  Sunday Empowerment of our BCFR Service Team,  Abby was given the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick by Fr. Noel Sian Montes. In the evening she was also prayed over by Bro. Doc Raffy known for his gift of healing. Abby was thankful for the newfound strength she has been experiencing since then as her love tank always filled.


Abby is only 19 years old and at her prime. She is a very intelligent, and a generous individual with a big heart. She gave so much pride and joy to our family. She should have the chance to grow up, to become a successful person and have a family of her own-to fulfill her dreams. We look forward for tomorrow and hope it will be a good day once more with all your help and God's intervention.


Prolonging her Kidney transplantation would also increase the risk for other possible complications.  Recent results of her 2D Echo and ECG showed enlargement and thickening of her heart. Abby's cardiovascular system must be in normal condition to be able to have Kidney transplant, else she will not be cleared by her Cardiologist.

 Hemodialysis functions as an artificial kidney, but does not strengthen the kidney. The procedure itself is expensive and at a certain point, we have found ourselves financially drained. If Abby does not undergo regular dialysis or immediate transplant, her kidneys might stop functioning, and toxins in her body will accumulate. This might develop cases of Leukemia, hallucinations, etc.

As we learn that life is really short, we can't postpone what we want to do when we feel like doing it. Every second is precious and every penny is greatly needed. She needs to undergo transplant as soon as possible, as urged by her Nephrologist Dra. Romina Danguilan of NKTI.

The hospital's quotation given to us, amounts to P1.5M ($30,500.00) for kidney transplantation and her post-transplant medications and work-up is another P500,000 ($10,500.00)

 As a father, though I want to be able to do more aside from being her KIDNEY LIVING DONOR, the expenses needed for such medication is way beyond our means. Please, consider helping us reach our goal as soon as possible. 'Hope we can raise the money by January 2017. We have many more happy memories to make with our family and friends for years to come.

From the bottom of our hearts we humbly ask that you can extend support to our daughter, and any help will be greatly appreciated as we claim that your favor would be returned by God multiplied over.

You can also deposit your donations through Abby's bank account:

BPI Family Savings Bank
Account Name : Gabrielle Anne U. Gabaton
Savings Account No. : 6866-1476-61