Donate for a Day of Life: The Story of Nice So

Two buckets of beer, a 3D-movie pass, a hearty lunch at Grams maybe, two Starbucks venti frappes and a pack of cigs. That's  how far our 400-pesos would go these days.

But for 16-year old Nice So, 400-pesos meant another day of life.

Nice is diagnosed with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease. Basically it's a disease that attacks your immune system. Meaning you won't exactly get sick of lupus but of other diseases you get because your immune system is down. Anyway, the disease had no known cause, and sadly no known cure. While others would probably look at lupus as a dead end, Nice saw it as a blessing. She was diagnosed at the age of 10, and having nothing to do for weeks confined in the hospital, she discovered her talent for painting. And when she realized people would actually pay for her paintings, she started selling them.

She uses the money to send less fortunate kids to school. She buys them uniform, school supplies, and gives them allowances to go to school. She also holds exhibits and donates the proceeds to other foundations for the sick like the LIFE Foundation (for kids with leukemia) and the Thalasemia Foundation ( for kids of a rare blood disease). But for Nice to continue painting and helping her scholars, she has to stay healthy first. She takes about 14 medicines each day just to keep her immune system up, all of which costs more or less 400-pesos daily, a pretty hefty amount for her mom who does private tutoring for a living. 


So we called out. Our host, Karen Davila, shared Nice's story on her radio show "Pasada Sais Treinta" on DZMM. Sharing Nice's story and knocking on people's kind hearts to donate 400-pesos, for a day of life.

We need not look far for help, we simply go back. We go back to human's innate kindness and generosity. We go back to Filipinos' spirit of bayanihan. The same spirit we see in magnitude during calamities like Ondoy and Sendong. The spirit that proves time and again,  we never look away from those in need.

Karen's partner, Vic Lima, donated 1000-pesos on the spot. We started collecting among ourselves in the team. Everyone donated his or her share, 1000, 400, 100-pesos, the amount didn't matter. Every hundred peso count. And then the calls, the texts, the wall posts and tweets started pouring in. People saying they heard about Nice's story on the radio. That they were inspired. That they wanted to help Nice and her scholars. A housewife from Cavite donated 5000-pesos, a corporate employee from Makati donated 2000, a family from Sta. Ana, Manila donated 400. The list goes on and on. In just a span of four days, we were able to come up with enough money to buy one month's worth of medicine for Nice.

Her story finally aired in  last February 15, coincidentally, Nice's 16th birthday. Every birthday that Nice celebrates is a miracle for her and her family. And everyone who heeded our call added another month to that miracle. After airing, inquiries on how to help Nice continued. People asking how to get in touch with Nice, how to donate, what her medicines are so they can get them for Nice themselves. The help, the hope and the inspiration never stops.

YOU too can still help. Ako Ang Simula will be auctioning off some of Nice's paintings on Facebook. Proceeds of which will go to Nice's medication and her scholars. We've donated for a day of life, now let's make that life more blessed by helping out some more. :)



 For more details on the Nice painting auction  log on to http://www.facebook.com/aasTV.  Or call 9244101 loc.5480.