To most people, getting proper tuberculosis (TB) treatment is the only solution to battle the potentially serious infectious disease; but for former TB patients, it is more than just the treatments — unity, action, and empowerment.
Survivor advocates of the Department of Health’s (DOH) #TBFreePH campaign believe that TB problems should not be faced alone.
Having gone through the same experiences, they continue to show their support by sharing their stories of hope to empower TB patients to strive toward a TB-free life.
Once an aspiring architect, Louie Teng recalled the biggest turning point in her life in 2007 when she discovered she had extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) called tuberculosis meningitis (MTB). Regarded as a rare form of TB, meningeal tuberculosis affected her brain causing her to lose her eyesight in the process of treatment.
For Louie, battling TB was one of the most difficult stages in her life, and losing her vision made it even worse. This led her to experience stages of depression, anxiety, and fear of discrimination from something that she considered to be an “old disease” which eventually progressed into a disability, resulting in double discrimination.
Her doctor then explained that her journey to recovery should be seen as a “miracle” since a person undergoing MTB could have resulted in a fatal incident since there were no existing cases locally at that time.
After months of treatment and rehabilitation, a new opportunity came her way which was to use her past experiences as a sign of hope for the many battling TB.
Today, Louie continues to combat TB as the president of TBPeople Philippines Organization Inc. and a survivor advocate for the DOH’s #TBFreePH campaign. She has been using her platform to educate and help those who do not fully monitor their treatment, individuals from far-flung communities with active TB, and patients who have both TB and existing disabilities.
With the looming effects of the pandemic, Louie believes the lockdowns contributed to the growing emotional distress of TB patients because of the lack of access to proper service from health care centers and hospitals.
But with increased digital interactions, connecting to TB patients who seek answers and peer support was made easier.
To address the growing concerns of TB amid the pandemic, other survivor advocates have also shared their voices in raising TB awareness in hopes that their collaborative efforts will strengthen the community even more.
Mark Agana continues to echo the voice of Filipino men to getting screened, tested, and treated for TB, as well as erasing all stereotypes of men having no weaknesses.
He was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in 2014 and considered himself to be a very healthy and athletic person. Like the majority of TB patients, Mark did not take the necessary precaution with TB treatment, and instead, he self-medicated which resulted in reactivation of TB in 2016.
He highlights that anyone is vulnerable to getting infected with TB, people who are active in sports and live a healthy lifestyle can also acquire it when exposed to the bacteria. After listening to different TB stories from other patients during his incubation period, Mark started to blame himself for not getting the necessary TB treatment sooner since getting TB once was already difficult but twice was too much.
For fellow survivor advocate Malaya Relacion, one of the biggest issues for TB in the Philippines is the lack of initiatives towards faster and more efficient TB detection processes.
In 2012, Malaya worked for a non-government organization where she visited various remote areas. After a series of unexplained fevers and chronic coughing, it was later revealed that she had PTB.
