FORMER PBA player Terry Saldana is finally getting the medical treatment he desperately needs.
According to well-meaning friends that included architect Rey Punongbayan, the former Ginebra and Swift player is confined in a hospital in Cabuyao, Laguna where doctors have started treating him for a variety of illnesses.
On Sunday, Punongbayan alerted fans and friends about the sad plight of Saldana when he shared a photo showing the former player in a wheelchair with both feet discolored and swollen to twice their size.
With help starting to come in, Saldana, 67, has already gone through a battery of laboratory tests as well as a swab test, according for Bong Conejos, a former PBA team staffer who keeps the player company in the hospital.
The initial findings were also encouraging, with doctors allaying initial fears that kidney failure or diabetes may be causing the swelling on Saldana's feet - or the fear that one leg, or both, may need to be amputated.
The likely cause of the swelling may be a blockage of a nerve from one of the bruising forward's previous knee operations, Punongbayan said quoting the initial diagnosis of doctors.
"He's still being evaluated and doctors are still waiting for the results of the laboratory tests as well as the swab test," said Punongbayan, a close associate of former Ginebra playing coach Robert Jaworski.
"Ang main problem right now is yung mga sugat n'ya sa paa," he added. "Titingnan pa kung baka makuha sa antibiotics or kailangan operahan kung talagang grabe."
Aside from Punongbayan, PSC commissioner Mon Fernandez and fellow PBA legends like Allan Caidic and Abe King were also among the first to help as well as Senator Bong Go and the provincial government of Laguna.
Several Ginebra players have also pledged to help.
Aside from Saldana's needs in the hospital, the 17-year PBA veteran may also require longterm assistance given his sorry situation in Laguna, where sources said he has been living alone in abject poverty.
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