'Dead' boy is alive

Parents claim it was a miracle

19 July 2006

LEGAZPI CITY—A 10-year-old boy who was allegedly declared dead by doctors at the Philippine General Hospital last month surprisingly turned up alive upon reaching their home in Barangay Puro here.

According to Dante Cardel, his son, Dante Jr., had been diagnosed earlier to have a brain tumor and that he was advised to bring his son to the PGH in Manila for medical treatment.

Dr. Vicente Tanchuling, the boy’s doctor here, said Dante Jr., fondly called Jun by his family, was diagnosed to have serious cerebral tumor and typhoid fever.

A brain tumor is the abnormal growth of tissue within the skull that occurs most commonly in children.

Cardel said their fares and expenses were shouldered by the Child Sponsorship for Community Development, Inc.

He told the Inquirer that they arrived at the PGH in the morning of June 21.

“At 10 a.m. that day, the doctors at the PGH said my son had very little chances of survival. That afternoon he was already dependent on the medical equipment attached to his body. At 4 p.m. he was proclaimed dead,” he said.

“The doctors said my son’s tumor had already burst inside his skull. At that point, my wife and I already accepted that he might be gone soon. When he was proclaimed dead, our relatives who were left here already prepared the house for his wake,” the elder Cardel added.
PGH response

Dr. Michael Tee, assistant to the director for public affairs of the PGH, however, said the hospital did not at all declare Jun dead.

“We did not issue any certification that the child died. We recommended that the boy be subjected to an operation to decompress his tumor but the parents refused. What we did was let the parents sign an agreement that the hospital would not be accountable for anything that might happen to the child. We respected their decision,” Tee said.

That night of June 21, Cardel said they decided to bring Jun’s body home. They rode a van and took the 12-hour trip back. Along the way, he said, he and his wife held Jun by their arms.

Upon reaching Naga City, or after almost 10 hours of showing all signs of being dead, Cardel said he noticed his son’s chest turned warm.

Chest warm

“I noticed my son’s chest was warm but he did not show signs he was breathing. The rest of his body was still cold,” Cardel said.

When they reached their house at Barangay Puro two hours later, the house was already all set for Jun’s wake. But as his father was placing his dead son on the sofa, the boy suddenly moved.

“My son suddenly embraced me very tightly. In his weak voice, he was calling me ‘Papa.’ We were all surprised. His grandparents were crying. Neighbors swarmed our house in disbelief,” Cardel recalled.

Hungry and thirsty

He added that his son complained of being so thirsty and hungry after his life was restored.

Jun also told his father that “people in heaven do not go hungry” and that he woke up “because Jesus told him to.”

The Cardel family did not yet ask for a medical explanation of what happened. But they believe what happened to Jun was a “miracle.”

“I can see that my son is better now. He can walk, though not that straight, he can move his body with ease, and can play with other children,” Cardel said. Ephraim Aguilar, PDI South Luzon Bureau