RIYADH, 19 August 2007 — Febe Cabrido used to tell her colleagues in a dress shop in Badiya district that in case something bad happens to her, she would donate her internal organs to charity and the corresponding fee to be sent to her family she has not seen for almost two decades.
Amira Comines, a staff nurse at Prince Salman Hospital, told Arab News that Cabrido was declared brain dead since yesterday. Cabrido, who is in her late 50s, was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday.
“She was in coma for four days due to brain hemorrhage,” said Comines. She added that Cabrido’s blood pressure was 240 over 180 when admitted to the hospital.
“At this point, we need to contact any of the immediate family members of Febe for their confirmation and approval to initiate the process of donating her internal organs to a charity,” said Comines.
She said that she learned of Cabrido’s intention to donate her internal organs to charity from the latter’s colleagues in the dress shop, which employed her as sewer.
Comines said the family of Cabrido could get as much as 50,000 riyals or about six hundred thousand pesos for the donated organs.
The problem is Cabrido’s family can no longer be found in their original address at Rosary Heights in Cotabato City in the Philippines’ main southern island of Mindanao.
Based on the addresses found in the belongings of Cabrido by her friends, her children are now in San Carlos Borromeo in nearby Sultan Kudarat province, while her husband Ferdinand Velasco is in Tapayan town of the same province.
Cabrido has not seen or spoken to any of her four children and her husband for almost 20 years, according to Welfare Officer Abdulghani “Jimmy” Umag of the the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Riyadh, as relayed to him by the regional office of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in Cotabato City.
Nobody could say why she never returned to the Philippines even for a brief vacation.
Umag said in a phone interview that the regional office could only possibly get word from the family tomorrow, at the earliest.
Once located, the relatives are required to personally appear in the regional office with official documents validating their identities.
“An official communication, duly signed and notarized, should also be forwarded to us to relay to the hospital authorities the family’s official nod for the donation of the patient’s organs,” Umag added.
Wella said that she met Cabrido five months ago and worked with her for a “brief period” in a dress shop.
“Febe used to have her occasional visit to ‘small’ clinics for checkup and was once advised by the attending physician that she had already experienced a mild stroke, which Carbido never accepted,” Wella recalled. She added that Cabrido’s blood pressure never went down below 220. Wella said that aside from her personal effects, Cabrido has a set of encyclopedia for her children.
“She considers the books as among her most-treasured possessions,” said Wella.
Wella said that she has already packed all the belongings of Cabrido in a box to be shipped immediately as soon as she confirms the exact address of her family in Mindanao.
She said she has an itemized list of the contents of the box including some pieces of fancy jewelry. Wella said Cabrido ran away from her original employer in 2003. She said that Cabrido was able to obtain a “waiver” so she could work outside Bahay Kalinga, the temporary shelter for “runaways.”