Diabetic retinopathy is an eye condition wherein its capillaries are injured by chronic high blood sugar, leading to severe blurring, dark floaters, and sometimes a sudden curtain of vision loss. Many Filipinos who are diabetic are vulnerable to the eye disease and ride-hailing driver Jhon Galapon from Baliwag, Bulacan is among them.

In March, the 31-year-old’s vision began to dim while he was on the road ferrying passengers. A check-up with an ophthalmologist followed and the diagnosis was onset of diabetic retinopathy.

Galapon was forced to stop driving a motorcycle, leaving his wife, who works in a BPO company, to support the family.

Galapon visited five different doctors across government and private hospitals, searching for an affordable treatment to no avail. The cost of specialized retina treatment, which ranges from P10,000 to P150,000 depending on the kind of therapy, was far beyond what their savings could cover.

Then they discovered the Tzu Chi Eye Center (TCEC), a medical facility operated by the humanitarian organization Tzu Chi Medical Foundation Philippines and whose volunteer doctors treat patients for free. TCEC retina specialist Dr. Carlo Nasol, together with Dr. Robbie Franco, attended to Galapon’s case in June. They performed surgery on Galapon and saved his sight in the left eye. 

The other eye will also be operated on to restore the retina’s normal function.

TCEC’s help has replaced Galapon’s fear of getting blind and disabled with hope of recovery and returning to work. Not only he and his wife are grateful and vowed to return the favor to the center once he is better.

Their eight-year-old daughter, Ysabel, was so moved by the aid and compassion of TCEC that she now dreams of becoming a retina specialist herself. 

“I want to work here as a volunteer as well,” she said when she accompanied her father to a checkup on 18 June, according to the foundation. 

Even when she was told that the Eye Center’s doctors are offering their services without pay, Ysabel did not hesitate. 

“I don’t mind, as long as the patients will get better.”

“Tzu Chi is such a huge help,” Galapon said.“Without this organization, we might not have been able to treat my eye condition. We are so lucky that a group like this exists — because eyesight problems are not something you can afford to ignore.”

Diabetic retinopathy often develops in silence, with the retina damaged long before symptoms appear. But with timely diagnosis, strict control of blood sugar and blood pressure, and access to treatments like injections, laser and retinal surgery, many patients can keep or regain useful vision. In a moment of darkness, one family found more than treatment  — they found a reason to hope, and a daughter who now dreams of healing others the way her father was healed.

  WITH TCMFP