Jurich Sungcad;
Credit: Save One Life
Luxembourg-based charity Save One Life has helped yet another haemophiliac, the young Filipino Jurich Sungcad, reach his dreams despite the illness.
Save One Life assists children and youth with bleedings disorders, who also face the double burden of poverty in 13 developing countries, through sponsorships, scholarships and micro-enterprise grants.
Before coming into contact with Save One Life, Jurich Sungcad, a young man from the Philippines with haemophilia A and inhibitors, was not sure if he would ever finish his education due to his illness. However, with the financial help of the non-profit organisation, Jurich went on to obtain a bachelor's degree in electronic engineering and he has recently found a job as an associate software engineer. Moreover, Jurisch is the current president of the Haemophilia Association of the Philippines.
Jurich was one of Save One Life’s first beneficiaries in the Philippines in 2008. He was enrolled in the sponsorship programme, which provides over $200 annually to help with health and education expenses. In 2015, Jurich also received a scholarship award in the amount of $1000 for the last two years of his bachelor’s degree.
The oldest of four children, the young man was diagnosed with haemophilia when he was six months old. His younger brother also had the illness, but passed away at the age of seven from a cranial bleed.
Despite difficulties at school and finding work due to frequent bleeds, Jurich never gave up and his persistence paid off when he was recently hired as an associate software engineer for a leading global professional services company.
Meanwhile, as the president of the Haemophilia Association of the Philippines in Cebu, he motivates other haemophilia patients to overcome their problems. Under his leadership, the association started to build a haemophilia database.
