Phuket Leukemia Patient Gets Royal Treatment

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Phuket leukemia patient gets royal treatment

Jenarong Tapklaeng gets some good news from the Bureau of the Royal Household.

PHUKET: -- After writing a letter to HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej asking for help, a sixteen-year-old leukemia patient has been granted 800,000 baht to pay for medical treatment.

Jenarong Tapklaeng was first diagnosed with leukemia about one year ago. Due to his illness, he has been unable to attend classes at Dowroong Wittaya School for over a year.

In a letter he addressed to the Bureau of the Royal Household in November last year, Jenarong wrote that his mother did not have the money required to pay for his expensive treatment.

“I just want to be a normal boy...go to school and make friends,” he wrote adding “I have to fight the pain all the time...sometimes I cry alone because I don’t want to worry my mother.”

Last month, Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop received a letter from the Bureau of the Royal Household, instructing him to find financial assistance for Jenarong and his mother.

The Phuket chapter of the Thai Red Cross Society, the Phuket Social Welfare Office and Karon Municipality are now helping Jenarong get the needed treatment in the chemotherapy ward at the Prince of Songkla Hospital in Haad Yai.

Doctors at Vachira Phuket Hospital and PSU Hospital are now conducting tests to see if Jenarong could benefit from stem cell donations from the bone marrow of his 14-year-old sister Natthakarn.

The 800,000 baht cost of the testing and therapy, if it goes forward, will be paid for by the Red Cross.

According to the Red Cross, Jenarong’s mother Wasuthida earns just 800 baht a month washing clothes out of her Kata home.

“I didn’t think we would get a reply. Jenarong didn’t even put a stamp on the letter,” she said.

“I’m so happy and I want to thank HM The King for helping my boy,” she said.

-- Phuket Gazette 2010-02-23

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More aid for young leukemia patient in Phuket

Lions Club of Phuket Andaman Sea members present Jenarong with a Bt30,000 check.

PHUKET: -- Several more organizations have donated additional funds to help the 16-year-old leukemia patient in Phuket who wrote a letter to HM The King asking for help.

Jenarong Tapklaeng’s mother Wasuthida collected checks totaling 36,000 baht at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday.

The money included 30,000 baht from Lions Club of Phuket Andaman Sea, 2,000 baht from Phuket Social Welfare Office, 3,000 baht from Phuket Social Development Center and 1,000 baht from Phuttha Mongkhon Nimitr School.

All of the money would be kept in Jenarong’s bank account and used solely to pay for his treatment costs, Mrs Wasuthida said.

Jenarong had already received 800,000 baht in donations organized through the Thai Red Cross.

Doctors at Prince of Songkla University Hospital in Haad Yai and Vachira Phuket Hospital are conducting tests to establish if Jenarong’s younger sister could donate bone marrow to help her brother undergo stem cell therapy.

They expect the tests to be finished by early April, around the time of Jenarong’s next appointment at PSU. This is also the time when his sister Natthakarn will be on her school break.

Jenarong, unable to attend classes at Dowroong Wittaya School for over a year, is keen to resume his studies.

“I’m going to apply for non-formal education because you don’t need to attend classes, you just study at home,” he said.

“I’m also going to try the entrance examination for Phuket Wittayalai School. I just want to know whether I can pass it.”

Phuket Wittayalai School is one of the most difficult schools to gain entrance to in Phuket.

-- Phuket Gazette 2010-03-04

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