FORMER Miss Universe and current Ma Pau chairman Wendy Fitzwilliam donated $12,500 to cancer patient Blaine Gomes on behalf of the Ma Pau Foundation to help with his $25,000 surgical bill.
In a handing-over ceremony held at City Hall Auditorium on Knox Street, Port of Spain, on Tuesday, Gomes, 32, a mechanic and father of one, expressed his gratitude for the funds.
"In February of this year, I was in a lot of pain in my testicles and stomach and started experiencing difficulty when walking. I was misdiagnosed by a urologist in Woodbrook, who diagnosed me with some sort of testicular infection. I took two courses of antibiotics, each two weeks long, but there was no improvement. So, I just gave up and started to go along with the pain."
"After receiving the misdiagnosis, I went back home and continued working. I operated like everything was normal; I took painkillers. I wasn't thinking it was cancer."
Five months later, he returned to the hospital with abdominal pain and abnormal cells were observed. He was later diagnosed with stage 4 testicular cancer after a biopsy.
After receiving the news, Gomes said he started putting measures in place for his two-year-old daughter.
"I tried to organise and see what I could put in order for my daughter. She's two, she turns three next week. Whatever assets I have, I started putting them in place for her."
Gomes said the long waiting period at Mt Hope General Hospital forced him to visit a private doctor at Medical Associates, where, in a matter of days, he began his cancer treatment.
"My cancer was so bad that I couldn't do the initial surgery to remove the testicle, because I had problems breathing and respiratory failure. I waited about a month after I started chemotherapy and I might not have survived that long."
Gomes, a club member of Ma Pau, learned about the foundation through a friend of his mother, who urged him to reach out.
He said, "She (my mother's friend) told me they help people, especially in my position; I had already blown through my savings. My sister started the process because I was in the hospital. There were a lot of ups and downs, paperwork and documents they needed proof and understandably so, because there are a lot of scammers out here."
Gomes has another surgery scheduled for the upcoming week and two more rounds of chemotherapy to do after the surgery. He is hopeful that by Christmas, he will be in the clear.
He said, "I have to do a next CT scan and blood work to know if I have more chemo or if I have beaten the cancer."
He is keeping a positive outlook and looking forward to spending the Christmas season with his two-year-old daughter, Zoe. He said he would also like to return to work as soon as possible, as he estimates he has already spent $300,000 on medical bills.
"I still have rent to pay, I still have a family to provide for, and I still have all these other bills besides the medical bills.
"I've been getting help from family members. The public system is overwhelmed right now. One dose of chemotherapy was $1
