Vote for Life with Ria

I am officially a finalist in the PBA 2009 Bloggers' Choice Special Award. Voting for the National Category is closed, but you can still vote from me in the Mindanao Category. The complete instructions are at this LINK. But in case you don't want to visit the PBA 2009 site... here's how: To vote you must be a FILIPINO blogger and must have established a blog before JUNE 2009. To vote for a blog, we REQUIRE you to make a post that expresses which blog you are voting for. After making your post, fill out and submit the VOTERS’ FORM. ***Important Note: a. Every blogger can only vote for one Bloggers’ Choice entry. Duplicate votes will be invalid. b. Make sure that you provide the correct link to your post for us to qualify your vote. Vote for the blogger of your choice here. The voting period: NATIONAL: October 1, 2009 9:00 in the morning to October 7. 2009 10:30 in the evening. VISAYAS and MINDANAO: October 1, 2009 9:00 in the morning to October 14, 2009 10:30 in the evening. REMEMBER... Please make a blog post stating that you are voting for Life with Ria. Then submit to the…

Frantic Night

Yesterday afternoon, we received word that my maternal cousin Mark needs blood donations in case he needs a blood transfusion since he has dengue fever. He has a O+ blood type which is a universal donor, but cannot receive other blood types. My relatives exhausted all means possible, including contacting our family friends who are somehow working for Red Cross Davao. Luckily, we were able to acquire enough units for him. In the evening, we became more panicked because the platelet count of his dad, Tito Jing who also has dengue fever, dropped significantly. Thing is Red Cross Davao is NOT OPEN 24 hours and there are no stocks of O+ Platelet Concentrate anywhere in Davao City. My cousin, a doctor, called all hospitals in the city to ask if they have any. One the Davao Regional Hospital/Davao Medical Center had one. We needed eight more units. We even called up Tagum (a nearby city) hospitals to check if they have any. They didn't. We called up all our relatives and friends in the medical profession. We felt so helpless. We are a big family, and people often joke us that we're related to everybody in Davao City. And we…