Blossom Brains: Planting Hope and Awareness in Brain Tumor Patients in the Philippines

By: Maria Angelica Liza Imperial, MD, FPNA (St. Luke’s Medical Center, Metro Manila, Philippines)

Brain Tumor Awareness Week 2023 in the Philippines was celebrated with Blossom Brains: A Tree Planting activity held by the Philippine Society for Neuro-oncology and the Neuro-oncology Council of the Phillipine Neurologic Society. It was held at the Anawim Foundation for the Abandoned Elderly in Rizal last October 1, 2023. 

Neurology attendings, residents, fellows and their brain tumor patients came on an early Sunday morning to plant various fruit trees such as Philippine Lime, sugar apple, apple mango, lemon, Java plum, marang and hairy lychee on 3000 sqm of the foundation’s 2 hectare property. From the generosity of their donors for the activity, funds for chemotherapy medicines of indigent patients were donated to the Brain Tumor Fund of Let’s Save the Brain Foundation. Participants tagged the trees with names of brain tumor patients and families tagged trees in memory of their loved ones who suffered from the disease.