{"id":313,"date":"2014-02-15T14:04:44","date_gmt":"2014-02-15T14:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saintpiocenter.com\/stpio_wpsite\/?p=313"},"modified":"2014-03-24T06:33:22","modified_gmt":"2014-03-24T06:33:22","slug":"al-mendoza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saintpiocenter.com\/stpio_wpsite\/2014\/02\/15\/al-mendoza\/","title":{"rendered":"Kawasaki Disease (Al Mendoza)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pio_square_pic11\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCuriosly, upon reading about Padre Pio\u2019s life at the Libis chapel, I found out that Pope John Paul II beatified Padre Pio on May 2, 1999. May 2 also happens to be the birthday of our beloved Mayo.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/address>\n

In May 2006, our grandson, Alfonso R. Mendoza III, was afflicted with Kawasaki Disease.<\/p>\n

Discovered in Japan in 1967 by Dr. Tomisako Kawasaki, the Kawasaki disease has no known cause and is an acute, self-limited vasculitis of unknown etiology.<\/p>\n

Little is known about the way a person gets this disease or how it spreads. It does not appear to be transmitted from person to person. Since outbreaks occur, it may be caused by an infectious agent.<\/p>\n

Most cases have a high spiking fever that does not respond to antibiotics. It lasts more than five days and is associated with irritability, swollen lymph nodes, red eyes, lips, throat and tongue.<\/p>\n

All signs of the disease were with our grandson, whom we affectionately call Mayo, when we changed doctors. The first doctor had been prescribing antibiotics to no avail.<\/p>\n

Finally at the hospital, the new doctors (three of them) broke the sad news: Mayo had the Kawasaki Disease.<\/p>\n

It was the first time we had heard of such disease.<\/p>\n

Gloomier and grimmer diagnoses were to follow:<\/p>\n

One, there is no known cure yet for the disease.<\/p>\n

Two, the most frequent complication is coronary artery aneurysms (ballooning out of vessels in the heart). Other organs may be involved as well.<\/p>\n

The third was the most shocking: 1-2% of cases die of the disease and its complications.<\/p>\n

Our Mayo, our first grandchild, was 9 years old. And yet, the disease was known to only afflict kids 5 years and below.<\/p>\n

Officially worldwide, our Mayo was reportedly only the second 9-year-old to be afflicted with the disease. The first was a boy from India.<\/p>\n

My wife and I were in Puerto Prinsesa City in Palawan for an assignment (we are both journalists) when we received the news by phone. My wife cried that night; quietly and secretly, I shed a tear when she finally fell asleep.<\/p>\n

Immediately, we booked ourselves for the first flight to Manila the next morning.<\/p>\n

From the airport, we drove straight to the hospital to see our May. He looked frail. His eyes were red as ripe tomatoes. His tongue was red and white-dotted like a strawberry. And, yes, he was burning with fever.<\/p>\n

Since there was no known cure for it, the most common procedure doctors use worldwide when confronted with this disease was to prescribe immunoglobulins (human plasma). It is administered intravenously to strengthen the body\u2019s immune system \u2013 but it is terribly expensive, costing by the hundreds of thousands.<\/p>\n

Usually, one shot of it and the disease would be gone.<\/p>\n

Not with Mayo. Twice he got injections of immunoglobulins. Sadly, he didn\u2019t respond to both shots.<\/p>\n

Finally, we accepted the verdict \u2013 the final recourse: Mayo would be injected with steroids. It was the last recourse.<\/p>\n

Reluctantly, we obliged. Our May had an on-and-off fever for almost two months now.<\/p>\n

Our Mayo needed two steroid shots before his now-weak body responded.<\/p>\n

All the time that Mayo was in the hospital, my wife and I prayed with my family very hard for Padre Pio\u2019s grace.<\/p>\n

We were introduced to Padre Pio by my wife\u2019s sister, Ofelia J. Magturo, who mailed us a \u201cstampita\u201d of Padre Pio from her home in Tustin City, California. Ofelia herself had had a severe eye and brain operation some years back. Doctors attributed her recovery from the precarious operation to a miracle \u2013 the miracle of Padre Pio.<\/p>\n

Since then, every time Ofelia hears of someone getting seriously ill, she would send Padre Pio\u2019s stampita to the sick person\u2019s immediate relatives.<\/p>\n

One night, my wife and I saw Padre Pio\u2019s glove flashed on TV. The new report said Chito Bertol would hold a Mass for it every Monday at his Manila Seedlings Bank Chapel (we went there twice).<\/p>\n

The news report also said of the Friday Masses held at the Philippine Centre for St. Pio of Pietrelcina, Inc. in Libis, Q.C.<\/p>\n

From that night on, before we went to bed, my wife and I prayed ardently for Padre Pio\u2019s intercession. I would wake up at dawn to talk to Padre Pio. My entire family also became devotees to the Pdre Pio Masses every Friday at Libis.<\/p>\n

Curiosly, upon reading about Padre Pio\u2019s life at the Libis chapel, I found out that Pope John Paul II beatified Padre Pio on May 2, 1999. May 2 also happens to be the birthday of our beloved Mayo.<\/p>\n

I told Padre Pio: \u201cPadre Pio, our Mayo must be your soul mate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the second steroid shot was administered to our Mayo, I begged Padre Pio \u201cto finally put an end to the sufferings of our Mayo, your soul mate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Padre Pio listened. He removed Mayo\u2019s disease the next day.<\/p>\n

We had brought Padre Pio\u2019s glove for a pray-over in our humble home after we had retrieved our Mayo from the ICU.<\/p>\n

After his discharge, Mayo would take aspirin everyday for his heart \u2013 from June to January. He would have regular check-ups to monitor his heart and blood, kidney and other vital organs.<\/p>\n

By February of 2007, doctors virtually gave Mayo a clean bill of health.<\/p>\n

But unknown to them, Dr. Padre Pio was behind them all the way making our Mayo a healthy boy again. Mayo now plays basketball and tennis, and swims regularly.<\/p>\n

At present time, 40 years after the disease was discovered, preventive measures are unknown for the Kawasaki Disease. It\u2019s absolute cure remains undiscovered.<\/p>\n

For us, though \u2013 my wife, Mayo\u2019s parents Dayong and Magirl and their 2 other children Dada and Migel, our daughter Aya and her husband Ricky and their daughter Mayasoh \u2013 we have discovered Mayo\u2019s absolute cure: Padre Pio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cCuriosly, upon reading about Padre Pio\u2019s life at the Libis chapel, I found out that Pope John Paul II beatified Padre Pio on May 2, 1999. May 2 also happens to be the birthday of our beloved Mayo.\u201d In May 2006, our grandson, Alfonso R. Mendoza III, was afflicted with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hidden","category-testimonials","column","threecol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saintpiocenter.com\/stpio_wpsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saintpiocenter.com\/stpio_wpsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saintpiocenter.com\/stpio_wpsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saintpiocenter.com\/stpio_wpsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saintpiocenter.com\/stpio_wpsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/saintpiocenter.com\/stpio_wpsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":436,"href":"https:\/\/saintpiocenter.com\/stpio_wpsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions\/436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saintpiocenter.com\/stpio_wpsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saintpiocenter.com\/stpio_wpsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saintpiocenter.com\/stpio_wpsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}