Filipino Kidney Donor
Denied
US Visa
Feb. 17, 2004
Agence France-Presse
CHICAGO -- A Chicago man had his
hopes for a desperately-needed kidney transplant dashed when US authorities
denied his Filipino cousin, a potential donor, a visa to travel to the United
States.
Erich Monzon was diagnosed with lupus, a debilitating auto-immune disease that
attacks the internal organs, when he was 16.
In 2000, he began dialysis treatments to filter his blood and a year later he
was put on a waiting list for a donor kidney, but his rare blood type
complicated the task of finding a good match, according to his doctors at the
University of Illinois (UIC) Medical Center.
So Monzon's father turned to his relatives back home in the Philippines in
search of a potential donor.
Blood tests showed Monzon's cousin, Ben Liggayu, was the best match, with the
same AB blood type.
"He is a match as good as a brother," said Enrico Benedetti, UIC's chief of
transplant surgery.
Liggayu applied for a visitor's visa to travel to the United States for the
operation that could improve Monzon's life and wean him off the dialysis
machine that he is hooked up to 12 hours a day.
But US embassy officials in the Philippines capital Manila refused the
44-year-old farmer a visa, fearing he might overstay his visit.
The 44-year-old father-of-four "failed to demonstrate that he has sufficiently
strong familial, economic or professional ties that would cause his return
after a temporary stay in the United States," embassy officials explained in a
letter to an Illinois lawmaker who intervened to press Monzon's case.
"Although Mr. Liggayu works as a farmer, his monthly income is very modest. He
has fairly small savings and no assets."
Jan Schakowsky, a US Representative for Illinois who counts Monzon among her
constituents, has written back to embassy officials, asking them to reconsider
their decision.
"Erich is in dire need of a kidney transplant but no other suitable kidney
donors have been found in the United States," she wrote. "Since his cousin is
of a compatible blood type, it is of great importance that Mr. Liggayu be
permitted to enter the States for further testing."
Monzon's doctors say that he could spend several more years on the waiting
list if his cousin is refused permission to enter the United States. As it is,
his disease has severely compromised his quality of life.
The 24-year-old struggled through undergraduate studies, but is not well
enough to pursue a law degree as he had hoped.
"We remain ready to do the transplant," said Benedetti. "This is a young man
who deserves a right to a better life."
Benedetti expressed surprise at the decision, which he said was unusual in his
experience.
"We've had donors from the Philippines, the Far East and the Middle East come
here before."
"I think the difference is September 11," he said, referring to the terrorist
attacks on New York and Washington, and the ensuing crackdown on foreign
visitors.
"There is a lot more scrutiny now. Erich is being penalized because of that,"
the doctor opined.