Vancouver Donations Save Filipina Barista’s Life

Janette Camba, a former barista at Tim Hortons coffee shop in North  Vancouver, was saved by donations from former customers, friends and  colleagues. She was a familiar face at the coffee shop serving that  morning cup of java – or more for three years.
She was diagnosed with rapidly progressing kidney disease, with her  organs quickly losing function within six months since she arrived in  North Vancouver in July 2008. She had good health when she arrived,  having passed the medical exam required as part of her visa  application. She went to work right away at Tim Hortons, which had  sponsored her temporary foreign worker visa.

But with the unexpected predicament, she went hemodialysis three times  a week. Although Camba could no longer work throughout the ordeal, her  boss Robert Naughton who owns three Tim Hortons shops in North  Vancouver, continued to apply for permit extensions, because he knew  that if Camba was forced to leave the country, she could die.  Eventually, Camba’s illness prompted the Canadian government to cancel  her visa, forcing her to return to the Philippines.

“I got a phone call from hospital,” recalled Naughton. “They said,  ‘You realize if Janette goes home, if she doesn’t receive treatment  within 10 days she will die.'”

Naughton knew that Camba had no medical coverage and no way to pay for  a transplant or hemodialysis. With the date of Camba’s departure  looming, Naughton sought the permission of Tim Hortons and launched a  desperate eleventh-hour fundraising effort to save her life.

The response, he said, was overwhelming. “She was very well-liked and  quite loved actually,” he said. “People were very generous.”

The campaign managed to raise $29,000 in about six weeks last fall.

Camba, however, wasn’t out of the trouble yet.

While her brother had volunteered to donate one of his kidneys, tests  revealed he wasn’t a good match. There were new tests that were  ordered for Camba’s younger sister, who also volunteered to donate a  kidney. This time, the kidney matched with the patient.

However, just when everything was lined up for her, a bad infection  also delayed Camba’s operation causing the coffee shop owner to be  nervous since the funds began to dwindle. The money raised for the  operation was going to pay for the hemodialysis needed to keep Camba  alive.

In January of this year, however, the transplant operation finally  went ahead successfully paid for by the North Vancouver fundraiser,  and Camba went back to the Philippines, recovering.

The story has a happy ending said Naughton.

Camba has kept in touch with her old friends and colleagues from North  Vancouver and she was emailing them from the hospital. Another Hortons  employee recently went back to the Philippines for a visit, and  stopped in to see Camba while he was there. He said that Camba looked  great and was doing well.

Naughton added while he’d love to bring Camba back to Canada,  realistically that’s unlikely with her medical needs, even for the  rest of her life. Camba still struggles to pay for the anti-rejection  drugs she must take.

Alvin Koh Relleve, a North Vancouver resident and leader in the local  Filipino community, said sadly that Camba’s situation is common to  those without private health insurance in the Philippines. While those  who can pay – including increasing numbers of western “medical  tourists” – have access to top-quality care in his home country, those  who don’t have the cash are usually out of luck.

As part of his work in the Filipino community, Relleve has been  promoting a health care insurance program available to Filipino  foreign workers both in Canada and around the globe. For about $20 a  month – paid by the worker in Canada – the company provides health  care benefits to dependent family members back home in the Philippines.

Naughton on the other hand is thankful for the resolution done for  Camba’s condition.

If not for the money raised in North Vancouver, Camba definitely could  not have paid for the operation or for continued hemodialysis – and  there are no other options in her country, he said.

Source: www.goodnewsnetwork.org, www.vancouversun.com