Child star Dindin Llarena sings for ailing Kirby

OLONGAPO CITY – Child star Dindin Llarena took the cudgels for an ailing one-year old biliary atresia patient and agreed to perform for free in a benefit concert scheduled on February 7 at the Football Field inside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

The benefit concert, which is being co sponsored by the Olongapo and Zambales Association of Private Technical Institutions and the local chapter of Union of Journalists of the Philippines, is one of the series of activities aimed at generating three million pesos for the much needed liver transplant operation for Kirby Erick Hizon.

Llarena, who hails from Olongapo City, was represented by her aunt, Solidad Nasaire, during the negotiations with Kirby’s parents.  Nasaire assured Kirby’s parents of Dindin’s help in the fund drive.  Nasaire was almost in tears when she saw Baby Kirby and immediately donated five thousand pesos for the fund raising project.

Llarena’s relatives also refused an offer of free hotel accommodations during their stay in Olongapo and suggested that the cost of the hotel be donated to Kirby instead.

Kirby, who was born in Castillejos, Zambales, has been the subject of a community wide fund raising campaign being organized by the local chapter of the NUJP which started three months ago.

Kirby is suffering from biliary atresia, a rare liver ailment which leads to sure death, normally within the first one to two years of the baby’s birth, unless the patient undergoes liver transplant operation.

The NUJP took on the cause of helping Kirby after learning that his parents, a young couple from a poor family in Zambales, often cannot afford to pay for daily medications and special formula milk to keep their baby alive.

OZAPTI President Dean Myrna Matira also learned of Kirby’s situation and decided to help in the campaign and said, “helping Kirby is much lighter than the trouble of having to address the problem if we were the parents of the afflicted child.”

Aside from Llarena, the concert will feature local bands, Xtrm, D’zyre, Infinite, Foulvemder, Templar, Deadspot and the Subic Performing Artists, all of which agreed to perform for free.

Aside from the concert, the NUJP has placed bamboo coin banks in several establishments in Olongapo and the Subic Bay Freeport to receive donations for Kirby.  The project, dubbed Alkansya ni Kirby, is being supported enthusiastically by duty free shops, supermarkets, schools, banks, internet cafes, and mercury drug outlets.

Students from concert major sponsor, COMTEQ Computer College, have for almost a month now, collecting donations from passengers and pedestrians at the main gate of the Subic Freeport, and selling tickets at the gates of various Subic Freeport locators.

A local cable provider, STV 6, meanwhile has sponsored a telethon and generated a substantial amount for the fund.

Donations also come from anonymous donors in Manila and from a few Senators.

Donors can get in touch with the Help Save Baby Kirby Secretariat office at Telefax: 047-252-3335, or write by electronic mail at savekirby@comteq.edu.ph.