Tourism writer asks for kidney donor

Dee Angeles Mandigma with his mom Evelyn. (Photos taken from Dee’s Facebook account via PNA)

On his 7th month of undergoing dialysis. (PNA Photo)

MANILA— Behind the striking speeches of Tourism secretaries and most of the releases you read at the webpage of the Department of Tourism (DOT) is a committed writer, who, you wouldn’t know, is battling chronic kidney disease.

Dee Angeles Mandigma, 35, has been working for the DOT for half a decade now. He has drafted more than a hundred tourism stories and major policy speeches for three DOT Secretaries already, including current Tourism chief Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.

In February this year, he was diagnosed with a Chronic Kidney Disease secondary to Chronic Glomerulonephritis, a progressive kidney condition that renders the kidney organs itself to fail overtime.

“The prognosis given to me is end-stage kidney failure. It was something I could not avoid because it is in the family’s genes,” he said in a letter sent to his colleagues in the industry.

Sometime in March 2018, he faced his first ever life and death situation when he was rushed to the emergency room.

“It was one of the darkest and most difficult times I ever had to go through. For over a month, I was bedridden in a hospital complete with a 24/7 medical support–an intravenous line, oxygen and the most terrifying of them all, the nasogastric tube feeding (NGT),” Dee recalled.

Because Dee was very weak, he cannot eat solid food nor take oral medicines that his doctors had to do everything by NGT. Feeling more weakened rather than recovered, he feared it would render him useless during those times.

“I could not walk, write, speak well. I thought it was the end of me. But our Lord is, indeed, a merciful one, He has allowed me to be recovered and let me be productive again. He has restored my speaking, walking, writing, and my entire physical abilities,” he said.

It has been four months since Dee resumed work at the DOT but he’s still on dialysis. Though this continues to lengthen his life, it’s just a matter of time before his kidneys totally fail and end working, he said.

“I prayed that the Lord will touch everyone who will see the story and to find in their hearts the courage to help us who are earnestly awaiting for a new kidney. I hope that the Lord will bless me and people like me with an altruistic donor who is more than willing to give a part of their body, so that I can restore a normal quality of life I once enjoyed,” he pleaded.

“Dialysis isn’t the long-term solution for kidney failure, transplant is,” he added, as he wrote his sincere wishes to be with his family longer.

Despite battling the chronic disease, Dee continues to deliver what his job demands him to do: to continuously promote and write the beauty of the country.

For those who are willing to donate, Dee may be reached at 0998 592 5827.