TACLOBAN CITY — "Dayne, I am so sorry the system failed us."

Those were the heartbreaking words of a grieving mother who, after a week of silence, found the strength to share on social media how her 10-year-old son died — not only from illness, she believes, but from a healthcare system that failed him at every turn.

Her post has since gone viral, igniting public outrage over the lack of emergency medical services and the poor condition of roads in Samar.

According to the mother, she rushed Dayne to a hospital in Catbalogan City at around 8 a.m. on 11 July after he developed a high fever, difficulty breathing, and eventually suffered a seizure.

Doctors intubated the boy but advised that he be transferred immediately to a hospital with an intensive care unit in Tacloban City, more than 100 kilometers away.

That was when the family's ordeal began.

The mother said no ambulance driver was available, and they were allegedly asked to pay P15,000 for the transfer.

"Your life was hanging by a thread, but they still prioritized money," she wrote.

Desperate relatives sought help from the Catbalogan City government, only to be told the city ambulance was unavailable because it was undergoing an oil change. They also appealed to the Bureau of Fire Protection but were informed that its ambulance was not authorized to travel outside the city.

Their plea for assistance from the Samar Provincial Hospital also ended in disappointment after they were told there was no available ambulance driver.

It was nearly noon — almost four hours after Dayne first arrived at the hospital — when an ambulance driver and a nurse finally became available to transport him.

"Those wasted hours could have saved my son's life," the mother wrote.