Gian Carlos: Surviror, literally and figuratively

I do not belong to the mushy type of writers - be it as a working press in my columns or as a scriptwriter in my scripts - but upon learning the untold story about Starstruck III Gian Carlos' ailment, just can't stop myself for writing a piece about him in my Bandera column Story Teller for April 28 issue (picture 'lifted' from http://pinoy.rickey.org as I don't have a ready picture of him).

THIS is the untold story of Starstruck Final Four Giancarlo Sevilla Ho a.k.a. Gian Carlos.

The boy from Ilo-ilo who knows how to sing and play the drums and the guitar, admittedly is not a favorite of ours noong nagsisimula ang Starstruck III. We have nothing against the boy na kapwa Arian pa pala naming (born April 3, 1989), hindi lang siya ang manok namin to win the artista-search show of GMA.

During the Final Judgment night, we rightly rooted for Marky Cielo to win but still nothing personal pa rin against the boy.

Nakasama lang namin si Gian ng mas regular nang nagsimula na siyang maging artista with the rest of his batch mates. Gian, along with six other Starstruck III na sina Marky, Jackie Rice, Iwa Moto, Jana Roxas, Chuck Ally at Vaness del Moral, are the stars of the Young At Hearts episode ng Love To Love season ten every Sunday right after SOP Gigsters kung saan regular din siya.

Sa mga unang araw ng pagta-trabaho, napapansin na namin ang kaniyang magiging ‘matulugin,’ always resting and to our surprise, ‘inaalagaan’ siya nina Iwa, Marky and Jackie, binabantayan sa pagtulog, taga gising kapag kinakailangan na, nagsu-support sa reading of lines, baby kung ituring nila si Gian.

And so we became warm to the kid at naging regular text mates namin siya. Having a lot of stars for text mates, Gian is one of the very few who answers all messages but we don’t begrudge this to the others naman dahil alam namin how busy they are; mas natutuwa nga lang kami sa mga tipo ni Gian as a good text mate.

We admit, hindi namin napanood ang kaniyang Starstruck Homecoming episode as our nights are occupied with typing scripts and columns nguni’t marami kaming nabasa kung paano kinaawaan at kung gaano hinangaan ng tapang ang binata for the untold sickness niya that was only revealed in the episode.

Two days later, we received a text message from a PEX member giving the number of Gian’s aunt from Bacolod, si Tita Biko. Marami raw kasing gustong um-interview sa kanila about Gian but they rather give it to us. Gian – God bless him – remembered our being nice to him since we started working together thus the favored return.

Gian is suffering from Hemophilia A, a rare, life long and incurable disease with no medication yet available. Duguin siya, a bleeder, sometimes internally pa. The danger of attack is always there. He has to avoid cuts, bumps at stress sa mga joints.

Many times noong bata pa si Gian, kinakailangan niyang ma ospital for weeks, sometime months for blood transfusion – the only remedy if he experiences heavy bleeding – dahil trial and error pa lang noong panahong yun. Kung hindi naman grabe, sa bahay na lang ang nagiging treatment niya.

Gian always wanted to be a star kung kaya’t kahit napakalubha ng kaniyang karamdaman, pinilit niya pa ring makapag audition sa Starstruck and luck smiled at him at napabilang nga siya sa Final Fourteen.

But his ailment will always be there as a constant threat not just to his dreams but also to himself.

During the taping of Pangga Ko Si Ate for his Starstruck III challenge, umihi si Gian ng dugo for several days without telling anyone but his yaya who knows what to do during such emergencies. May time ding namaga ang mga joints niya at hindi siya makalakad ng maayos for weeks pinipilit niya lang para hindi siya makapag absent sa taping.

Right now, he is very much okay but do not expect him sa mga fantaserye requiring him to do a lot of action or kahit sa Extra Challenge dahil it can endanger his life. His illness is so life threatening puwede siyang mag bleed to death sa simpleng bangga o bagsak niya.

Still, wala kang maririnig na reklamo kay Gian. Ito ang ginusto niya, he dreamt and he believed.

Now the third phrase of Starstruck is literal and figurative for him; Gian needs to survive.