Children in the Philippines living in extreme poverty struggle to access basic necessities. Many families simply can’t afford food, water, or medical care.
Lucas has waited years for a surgery his family could never afford.
He is 7 years old, and he lives with lymphangioma of the tongue. In simple words, Lucas has a cluster of abnormal fluid-filled vessels growing inside his tongue. That swelling makes his tongue larger than it should be, and his family says it has been getting worse.
For a child, this is not “just swelling.”
It can affect how he eats. How he speaks. How comfortable he feels. And for his parents, every change brings fear: What happens if it keeps growing?
Lucas was first seen by doctors when he was only 6 months old. At first, they thought it was hemangioma and gave him medicine, but it did not work. Then the lockdown happened, and his family could not return to the hospital.
They tried again in 2021, and an MRI finally showed the real diagnosis: lymphangioma. Doctors said Lucas needed sclerotherapy, a procedure used to help shrink the swelling.
But his family could not afford it.
They tried another hospital. They were told medicine could be tried first, and if it did not help, sclerotherapy would be the next step. But again, they could not continue. They live far from Manila, and even getting back to the doctor has been out of reach because of money.
Lucas’s family is not asking for something extra. They just want him to be seen again, treated properly, and given the chance to live without this swelling taking more from his childhood.
This fundraiser is for Lucas’s surgery, including the medical care he needs to move forward with sclerotherapy.
If you want to help Lucas, please donate to bring him closer to the surgery his family has been trying to reach for years. And if donating isn’t possible right now, sharing his story can help it reach the people who can.
Maya’s Hope works to improve the lives of orphaned, impoverished, and special-needs children worldwide.