A BUDDING painter at age four, Aedan Pio Titco Pascual urgently needs an operation to get rid of chordoma, a rare type of cancer, growing inside his brain.
Pio has an art exhibit titled 鈥淐lear Skies鈥� at the lobby of the Lung Center of the Philippines featuring his drawings of the galaxy and the solar system.
鈥淗e said he wanted to become an astronaut, not a mere astronomer, because an astronaut goes to outer space,鈥� his grandmother Teresa Titco said.
The exhibit which runs until Oct. 6 is aimed at helping his family raise funds for his 鈥淧roton Beam Therapy鈥� operation.
Priced at a staggering P11 million ($250,000), it will be done in the United States upon the advice of doctors at the Philippine General Hospital 鈥渂ecause the procedure is not available in the Philippines.鈥�
PASCUAL
鈥淧io never cried when we found out. I was the one crying endlessly when we found out in February that he has a mass on his brain stem,鈥� said Pio鈥檚 mother Jesrora Marie Malvar. She has been raising him single-handedly after she and her husband separated in 2013. She and Pio live with her mother in Cainta, Rizal province.
Jesrora, a call center agent, said that Pio knows that the disease is the reason he has been having headaches. Lately, the growth has affected his speech, making it slurred. He has also become cross-eyed.
鈥淥ne time, when he was diagnosed with upper respiratory tract infection and meningocele, he woke me up. He was shaking and having chills even if it was not cold. He asked me: 鈥楳ommy, why am I shaking?!鈥� He wasn鈥檛 even crying鈥�. I was panicking but Pio was so calm that I had to calm myself down, too,鈥� she said.
Those who want to donate toward Pio鈥檚 costly operation may call Teresa Titco at 0917-5405109.
Deposits may be made in the BDO savings account of Pio鈥檚 mother, Jesrora Marie P. Malvar (account #004680143412).