Tambuling Batangas Publication April 10-16, 2019 Issue | Page 5

OPINYON
April 10-16, 2019
5 facts you need to know on Hemophilia
By DOST-PCHRDPublished
Hemophilia is a bleeding disorder,
passed on from mothers, which
affects the blood’s ability to clot.
The World Hemophilia Federation
estimates that about 10,000
Filipinos have hemophilia, with
about 1 million suffering from
Von Willebrand disease and other
bleeding disorders. As we celebrate
the Hemophilia Awareness Month
this April, here are five facts on
hemophilia gathered from a study
entitled “Hemorrhagic diseases in
Filipino children” published in The
Philippine Journal of Pediatrics.

There are two common
types of hemophilia
Hemophilia A is the most common
type of hemophilia that occurs in
about 1 in 5000 males caused by
missing or defective factor VIII.
Hemophilia B is a less common
type of hemophilia that occurs in
about 1 in 25000 male births caused
by missing or defective factor IX.
Having a defective factor means that
the body of person has no means to
repair itself when there is damage
in the blood vessel or injured tissue
that will lead to excessive bleeding
and internal hemorrhaging.

Uncontrolled
bleeding
Of travails and triumphs: CALABARZON’s
‘water princess’ and her journey to Palarong
Cia told them the news that she medley. This winning streak
Pambansa
was not given a swim, even just made her the top qualifier in
By DepEdPublished
It was never easy for swimmer
Roz Ciaralene Encarnacion of
Alaminos Integrated National
High School to reach the
peak of success. Named as
CALABARZON’s
‘water
princess,’ Cia went through
various travails before she
emerged
triumphant
and
conquered regional and national
athletic meets.

Life is a battle, and
those who win it are armed not
only with talent and skills. More
importantly, they are strong and
determined enough to make
their goals and dreams come
true—come hell or high water.
Roz
Ciaralene
Encarnacion, also known as Cia,
was a third grader when she first
joined a swimming competition
in 2014 at a provincial meet.
She fell short and landed only
on the 15th spot, so she did not
qualify for the next level.

But Cia did not stop
pursuing her passion. When
she was in fourth grade, she
competed again and ranked
11th. Unfortunately, only the top
10 swimmers would compete
in the 2015 Southern Tagalog
CALABARZON
Athletic
Association (STCAA) Meet.
Two weeks later, however, she
was notified to replace one of
the selected swimmers who
backed out of the STCAA.

Giddy with excitement,
Cia immediately participated in
an in-house training program
in Santa Cruz, Laguna. Even
her parents and relatives were
eager for the competition, until
for a relay. Her coach told her
that she is not yet ready for the
regional meet.

The incident shattered
Cia’s self-confidence but this
downfall only blazed her drive
to strive harder to achieve
what she has always longed
for—a ticket to the regional and
national meet.

Cia got back on her
feet, this time, more aggressive
and strong-willed. She trained
hard for the 2015 STCAA, for
she did not want to be left alone
in the bleachers again. Her
hard work finally paid off when
she bagged a silver medal for
100-meter breast stroke and a
gold medal for 50-meter breast
stroke which opened the doors
for her in the 2016Palarong
Pambansa held in Legazpi City,
Albay. Though she did not earn
medals in the said event, she
was included in the top eight
finalists and her parents were
proud of it.

Her journey continued.
She competed in the 2016 Batang
Pinoy National Championship
held in Tagum, Davao del Norte,
where she won a gold medal in
the 200-meter breast stroke and
silver medals in 100-meter and
50-meter breast stroke. The
fire of her passion kept burning
inside her; she trained harder
than ever in every competition
she is into.

In the 2017 regional
meet, Cia bagged four gold
medals in her 400-meter and
200-meter
freestyle,
and
100-meter and 50-meter breast
stroke, and a silver medal
in the 200-meter individual
the CALABARZON team to
compete in the 2017 Palarong
Pambansa in San Jose De
Buenavista, Antique, where she
bagged two gold medals for her
50-meter and 100-meter breast
stroke. Since then, she has been
named
“CALABARZON’s
Water Princess.”

When she was in Grade
7, at the age of 12, Cia kept
her fervor burning and further
strengthened her drive to push
herself to the limits. She topped
the One Laguna (division) and
provincial meets, and qualified
in the 2018 Palarong Pambansa
in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, where she
earned two bronze medals in
occurs
A more serious concern for people
suffering from hemophilia is
spontaneous bleeding; any leak
can cause severe bleeding and the
body will not heal itself. Bleeding
into different organs can be life
threatening because when it occurs
to a vital organ, it can cause
permanent damage beyond repair.
No cure available yet
Medical scientists haven’t found a
cure yet for this condition. The only
treatment available for hemophilia
is replacement therapy wherein,
concentrates of clotting factor VIII
(for hemophilia A) and IX (for hemophilia B) are slowly dripped
or injected into a vein. This helps
in replacing the defective clotting
factor of the blood. Out of the
10000 Filipinos that suffer from
hemophilia, 3 out of every 4 people
lack the resources required for
proper treatments.

This research is one of
the many studies on hemophilia
uploaded in the Health Research
and Development Information
Network (HERDIN), an online
database of PCHRD that enables
online publishing, exchanging,
and dissemination of quality health
information in the Philippines. It is
the only health research repository
for published researches in the
county.

In the spirit of raising
awareness on Hemophilia Month,
PCHRD
invites
universities,
colleges, laboratories, and medical
and research institutions to upload
their published and unpublished
researches to HERDIN to expand
the reach of their study and foster
collaboration to find research-based
solutions to healthcare problems
such as hemophilia.

For more information,
you can visit HERDIN’s website at
http://www.herdin.ph/ (Catherine
Joy C. Dimailig/DOST-PCHRD)
the 100-meter and 200-meter
breast stroke. This became
her golden ticket to the 10th
ASEAN Schools Games held in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from
July 21 to 27, 2018 where she
ranked 10th on her 50-meter
breast stroke. Cia was a little
disappointed with her own
performance, but she later
realized that what matters is the
experience and learning that she
gained. “I am very blessed to be
one of the athletes to represent
our country. Yehey! Philippine
Team na ako!” Cia said with a
big smile on her face.

In the 2019 One Laguna
Meet, CALABARZON’s water
princess proved herself worthy
of the title when she nailed
seven out of her seven swims
with gold medals. These events
were 100-meter and 200-meter
breaststroke,
400-meter
freestyle,
200-meter
and
100-meter butterfly, and 4x50-
meter and 4x100-meter medley
relay. In the regional meet,
dubbed as the CALABARZON
Heroes Games, held from February 12 to13, Cia bagged
gold medals on her 100-meter
and 200-meter breaststroke, and
4x50-meter and 4x100-meter
medley relay, and a bronze on
her 400-meter freestyle.

Cia was overjoyed to
be qualified again in the 2019
Palarong Pambansa to be held
in Davao City. She ranked
third among the secondary
swimmers in Region IV-A
CALABARZON.

It was never easy
for this student-athlete from
Alaminos Integrated National
High School to reach the peak
of success. She went through
various travails before she
emerged triumphant. She had to
undergo non-stop training while
studying—the most difficult
challenge for her.

“I love to swim. My
life is in the water. This is my
choice, so I will do my best all
the time,” Cia shared.

Finally, Cia feels very
blessed that her parents are
always there to support her
every step of the way. (DepEd)
It affects children
Hemophilia B Leyden is an
extremely rare form of Hemophilia
B that causes young children to
bleed
excessively
throughout
childhood but when they reach
puberty, very little bleeding occurs
afterward.
Women can get affected too
Hemophilia is a recessive x-linked
trait which affects approximately 1
in 4500 males, but there are cases
in which the mutation can cause
the same disease issue to the carrier
[mothers].
Roz Ciaralene Encarnacion of Alaminos Integrated National High School