Joselito Malig

Article (news)

ABS-CBN News Digital Intern

By the time Ray learned he had chronic kidney disease, he was 20 years old and weeks away from graduating from college. He had imagined finishing school, finding work and helping support the family that had spent years investing in his education.“S’yempre po, bilang estudyante, may pangarap po [ako para] sa pamilya. Makatulong. Maabot ‘yung mga kagustuhan para maiangat ang pamilya ,” he said. “Noong nagkaroon po ako ng sakit, nagbago po talaga ang buhay ko.”For him, the hardest part was feeling that instead of helping his family, he had become another burden. He has spent 15 years of dialysis dictating the structure of his week. Three sessions. Four hours each. Repeat.Friends who once shared classrooms with him have built careers and families while he has spent much of adulthood moving between hospitals and dialysis centers.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/health-science/2026/6/26/marcos-jr-visits-soon-to-be-largest-dialysis-center-in-southeast-asia-to-operate-in-early-2028-1206">Marcos Jr. visits soon-to-be largest dialysis center in Southeast Asia, to operate in early 2028 </a> </div>While the treatment has kept him alive, it did not leave him untouched. Complications have spread beyond his kidneys, damaging his heart, thyroid, and bones.Years ago, government assistance covered only a fraction of the dialysis sessions he needed. To make the support last, he was forced to space out his treatments—a decision made by choice and out of necessity that came at the cost of his health.Ray’s story was one of several advocates who shared during Kapihan at Ugnayan: Usapang Kidneys, Puso at Metabolismo, a gathering organized by Boehringer Ingelheim Philippines as part of its IMPACT (Patient Advocate Community for Transformation) program.Along with Ray was Vince, also an advocate from Dialysis PH Support Group Inc., who lived alongside a dialysis patient.When his father was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease nearly a decade ago, Vince thought it would be like any other illness. Take the prescribed medicines, recover, and move on. He was wrong.At the time, Vince was teaching at a school in Manila. He eventually left his job to care for his father, who needed dialysis three times a week.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/health-science/2026/3/12/4-mercury-branches-offer-free-kidney-screening-1302">4 Mercury branches offer free kidney screening</a></div>“I had to choose,” he recalled. “My family first, or my own life.”He chose his father.For nearly ten years, dialysis dictated not only his father’s schedule but also his own. Some days his father was strong enough to smile. On others, even getting through a treatment was difficult.“You have to be patient for the patient,” Vince said. “If you’re a caregiver and you don’t understand what they’re going through, it becomes much harder for them and for you.”He also spoke of the financial burden. Before improvements in government support, he remembered sleeping outside government offices and medical assistance centers while trying to secure funds for his father’s treatment.Today, he says those programs have improved significantly.Six years ago, Achi, too, spent his days on dialysis. Today, he speaks from the other side of that journey.Now more than a year after receiving a kidney transplant, Achi described how dramatically his quality of life had changed. The decision to undergo transplantation, however, was never simple.Beyond finding a compatible donor came another question familiar to many Filipino patients: how to afford the medicines needed after surgery.He recalled worrying about the cost of lifelong immunosuppressive medications, which can amount to tens of thousands of pesos. Much of that burden, he said, has since been covered through available government support, a lifeline that made recovery possible.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/celebrities/2025/11/15/bea-santiago-opens-up-about-her-journey-as-a-kidney-failure-survivor-and-transplant-warrior-1404">Bea Santiago opens up about her journey as a kidney failure survivor and transplant warrior </a> </div>But the conversation also revealed another reality.A successful kidney transplant begins with one important thing that many patients still cannot find.A donor.Ray knows that feeling very well.After fifteen years on dialysis, Ray has now completed the final workup required before a kidney transplant. But for many Filipino patients, the road to transplantation remains uncertain, with the shortage of organ donors continuing to limit access to the procedure.The advocates also shared that even as transplant care improves, the country continues to struggle with a limited number of organ donors. The greatest barrier is no longer medical eligibility but the simple absence of a kidney to receive.Many Filipino families remain reluctant to consent to organ donation even after a loved one’s death. That is why the organization has begun speaking about organ donation too.“A gift of life,” they call it.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/health-science/2025/6/23/philhealth-expands-coverage-for-chronic-kidney-disease-others-2006">PhilHealth expands coverage for chronic kidney disease, others</a></div>Because for someone waiting on the transplant list, one person’s final act of generosity can become someone else’s chance to live.Yet throughout the discussion, the speakers returned more to prevention.Today, he said, public support has expanded significantly, providing more dialysis sessions, medicines and laboratory monitoring than patients once received. This, according to Ray, somehow changed the conversation.“Before, we fought for benefits because those benefits didn’t exist. Now, we don’t want people to reach where we are,&quot; he said.One of the simplest tools they pointed to was the urine albumin-creatinine ratio test, which can detect early kidney damage before symptoms appear. The screening takes about a minute.For Ray, that measurement carries an almost impossible contrast.A minute against 15 years of dialysis.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/health-science/2025/6/22/sobrang-pagkain-ng-maalat-matamis-itinuturong-dahilan-ng-pagdami-ng-may-kidney-problem-2123">Sobrang pagkain ng maalat, matamis, itinuturong dahilan ng pagdami ng Pilipinong may kidney problem</a></div>Filipinos, he said, are often afraid of checkups because they fear what the results might reveal. But avoiding the test does not stop the disease—it only gives it more time to grow unnoticed.“Kaya malaking bagay po na maipakilala sa kanila ang mga ganitong programa,” he said, referring to free screening initiatives. “Para maprotektahan po nila ang kalusugan nila.”It took him fifteen years to understand what a minute could have changed.

By the time Ray learned he had chronic kidney disease, he was 20 years old and weeks away from graduating from college. He had imagined finishing school, finding work and helping support the family that had spent years investing in his education.

By the time Ray learned he had chronic kidney disease, he was 20 years old and weeks away from graduating from college. He had imagined finishing school, finding work and helping support the family that had spent years investing in his education.

A minute can change everything: What chronic kidney disease takes from patients—and their families

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A minute can change everything: What chronic kidney disease takes from patients—and their families

ABS-CBN News Digital Intern,

Andriel Gabriel Yu Bongo

Published July 05, 2026 12:32 AM PHT

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Chronic kidney disease

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