More aid for young leukemia patient in Phuket

PHUKET: Several more organizations have donated additional funds to help the 16-year-old leukemia patient in Phuket who wrote a letter to HM The King asking for help.

Jenarong Tapklaeng’s mother Wasuthida collected checks totaling 36,000 baht at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday.

The money included 30,000 baht from Lions Club of Phuket Andaman Sea, 2,000 baht from Phuket Social Welfare Office, 3,000 baht from Phuket Social Development Center and 1,000 baht from Phuttha Mongkhon Nimitr School.

All of the money would be kept in Jenarong’s bank account and used solely to pay for his treatment costs, Mrs Wasuthida said.

Jenarong had already received 800,000 baht in donations organized through the Thai Red Cross.

Doctors at Prince of Songkla University Hospital in Haad Yai and Vachira Phuket Hospital are conducting tests to establish if Jenarong’s younger sister could donate bone marrow to help her brother undergo stem cell therapy.

They expect the tests to be finished by early April, around the time of Jenarong’s next appointment at PSU. This is also the time when his sister Natthakarn will be on her school break.

Jenarong, unable to attend classes at Dowroong Wittaya School for over a year, is keen to resume his studies.

“I’m going to apply for non-formal education because you don’t need to attend classes, you just study at home,” he said.

“I’m also going to try the entrance examination for Phuket Wittayalai School. I just want to know whether I can pass it.”

Phuket Wittayalai School is one of the most difficult schools to gain entrance to in Phuket.

— Pimwara Choksakulpan