Venezuelan cancer patient needs more blood donations

Fifty-seven-year-old Venezuelan cancer patient Dominga Pagola has received two pints of blood from the public.

"She is now at the Sangre Grande hospital. Here, they are giving her the care she needs," her daughter Maria Romero told Newsday in Spanish on Thursday. "Doctors already gave her a bag of blood, and today they will give another to see its evolution."

Pagola, a biology teacher and mother of two from Tucupita, was previously at the San Fernando General Hospital.

She needs at least five pints of blood to stabilise her worsening condition.

On Tuesday, Newsday first highlighted Pagola’s plight. Relatives said once she is stabilised, she plans to return to her homeland for additional care.

Owing to Trinidad and Tobago’s health policies on non-nationals, Venezuelans were unable to satisfy all the requirements to donate blood at the blood bank in San Fernando.

The requirements include presenting a valid passport showing a stamped entry date.

In October doctors diagnosed Pagola, an undocumented migrant, with uterine cancer. She also has fibroids and needs surgery to remove them. Romero said the fibroids are causing her mother to lose a lot of blood.

In TT, non-nationals are only entitled to primary health care.

An operation to ultimately stop the bleeding costs $48,000 at a private institution, Romero said. Pagola also needs six rounds of chemotherapy to treat the cancer at $25,000 per round.

On February 4, a friend set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for Pagola’s medical expenses. The page says US$10,000 would cover Pagola's operation and post-operative expenses. As of Thursday afternoon, the family had raised US$835.

People willing to help can donate via the fundraising page https://gofund.me/d5b6bddf or call Pagola's relatives at 379-0520.