Cancer-stricken domestic worker Dolores Laganes made her final exit from Hong Kong on July 29 after failing to receive the free chemotherapy treatment she had badly needed.The 50-year-old Laganes, who is suffering from stage 4 cancer, is now confined at the Bicol Medical Center in Naga City due to inflammation in her brain caused by a tumor, her sister Merly told the SUN.
The sister accompanied Laganes on her trip home because she was too weak to walk.
She had earlier been granted a recognizance paper by the Immigration Department so she could stay in Hong Kong longer to get treatment. But when she returned to Prince of Wales Hospital in Shatin, she was refused further free chemotherapy treatment.
Completing her treatment at a government hospital here was her only hope of surviving the disease, which started in her left breast and spread to her lungs and onto her brain, causing her partial blindness and inability to move her eyeballs.
On July 7, a day after Laganes was sentenced in court, she went to the hospital where she was confined for a day. But the next day doctors told her the hospital could no longer provide her free chemotherapy treatment because it was very expensive and many local cancer patients also needed it.
“They told me I better return home and seek treatment there,” Laganes said.
Consulate staff who handled Laganes’ case were earlier upbeat after learning she had been granted recognizance on the day she was handed a suspended seven-day sentence by the Shatin Court for overstaying here more than a month ago.
They told the patient that she could stay to get free treatment.
“Just report to the CIC (Castle Peak Immigration Centre) and go through their clearance process then go back to the hospital for the continuation of your treatment,” said the officers.
It turned out that the advice was not valid at all times.
Failing to avail of the much-needed treatment, Laganes told Immigration that she wanted to leave soon. But “soon” meant another month-long wait because, aside from the clearances, Laganes had no fare money.
“I went to the Consulate to beg for money to buy my plane ticket, even just for one way, but I was told a request for that would take time as it still had to be cleared with the Manila office (of the Department of Foreign Affairs),” the patient said.
Told about her predicament, Immigration booked a serat for her on a Philippine Airlines flight to Manila on Aug 5 with an onward connection to Naga Airport in Pili, Camarines Sur, the next day.
Laganes said she had been an OFW since 1995 when she was 27 years old, first as caregiver in Taiwan. She went home after two years and spent some time with her mother and children. Then she returned to Taiwan to work another two years.
After this, she went back home, but when her savings were depleted she decided to apply for domestic work in Hong Kong in 2002. In 2012, she went home again, spent time with her family and returned to this city in 2014.
“Now here I am, unable to finish my two-year contract because I got sick. When my employer found out I had cancer, she advised me to go home, but I told her I could still work,” Laganes said.
Then in April while doing her daily chores she suddenly fell dizzy and went blind. The employer had to call 999 for assistance and took her to the hospital. Doctors told her the cancer had spread and she had a brain tumor. On May 2 she terminated her employment.
Laganes was to have left Hong Kong after her 14-day visa extension, but she chose to overstay for medical reasons. On June 2, she was arrested during an ID check by police and was detained in hospital.
Laganes had no regrets leaving Hong Kong in such a condition. “Mabuti na rin at makakauwi na ako, Kuya,” she said. She sounded tired and resigned to her fate.
