Son’s cancer journey spurs dad to open space for pediatric patients

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December 21, 2025 | 10:42am

MANILA, Philippines — It takes a mature person to see the good in a particularly dark situation. For most people, finding that silver lining especially when a loved one is sick can be next to impossible. 

Twelve years ago, businessman Butch Bustamante’s youngest son, Noah, was found to have a low platelet count. He and his family were still living in the United States where Butch held down a job in a supply chain firm. 

Noah was diagnosed six years later with aplastic anemia or bone marrow failure, which required him to undergo a bone marrow transplant. At the time, the eight-year-old didn’t know why he felt weak or why his hair began to fall out when he underwent chemotherapy treatment. 

Seeing his son in such a vulnerable state hurt Butch but he soon came to realize that he and his family were surrounded by angels, many of them strangers who were willing to extend help whether it was their time or financial assistance. 

“Fortunately we were living in the US as Noah was born there,” Butch told this writer in an earlier interview. A bone marrow donor was located and in mid-2017, his son was admitted at the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital and underwent the transplant 10 days later. The Bustamantes stayed in the hospital for a month before transferring to a nearby facility managed by the Ronald McDonald House Charities, a non-profit family and children’s charity dedicated to supporting families with sick children. 

The entire building was outfitted with one-bedroom suites that could accommodate families, and had a cafeteria open 24/7. They would end up staying there for three months as it was conveniently located. “They had shuttles that departed for the hospital every 30 minutes,” Butch recounted.

The fighter that he is, Noah pulled through and is now a healthy 14-year-old living and studying in Los Angeles. His Dad was so moved by the outpouring of help and love they received then that he wanted to do something similar in the Philippines where he now resides. 

He had already registered the name Little Ark Foundation (LAF) — after his son Noah — in California and then also at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a charitable non-profit organization in 2021. 

Overcoming challenges

Finding donors was a challenge when he was first starting but things picked up when he partnered with the Philippine Children’s Hospital (PCH) 14 months ago. Initially dipping into his own resources, he secured a place that he then outfitted with beds, tables and chairs where indigent pediatric cancer patients and their one parent or guardians could sleep in between hospital appointments. This way, they didn’t have to spend money going back and forth from their homes to the hospital. 

“There were some who would even spend the night trying to sleep on folded cartons next to a drugstore. As a result, the children and their parents were usually exhausted by the time they entered the hospital the next morning,” Butch recounted.      

PCH is the one that comes up with a list of patients and their parent or guardian who can stay at LAF while the patient is undergoing treatment at the facility. From a small unit in a condo in Sta. Mesa, Little Ark Foundation recently transferred to a two-storey house in Quezon City that can accommodate up to 20 pediatric patients and their one parent or guardian for a total of 40. At the moment, however, given the limited staff, they can only admit a maximum of 12 patients at a time. 

“We were offered this house to lease for five years on the condition that we pay for the renovations ourselves and the annual real property taxes. Fortunately, we were able to pay for these using donations in cash and kind. Groups sent tiles, paint, and appliances like airconditioners. 

“There were some people who asked why the kids needed an airconditoner in the room, weren’t the electric fans enough? I guess they were not aware that after undergoing chemo, a patient tends to feel hot — that’s why I had airconditioners installed,” Butch said. 

Anyone else would have snapped at these misguided comments but he chose to gloss over them. He knows that he need only ask, and God will provide. 

'Ask and you shall receive'

Tired from the day-to-day operations of running a non-profit, Butch had initially decided not to decorate for the holidays but changed his mind and asked his staff to post a request on their social media accounts for Christmas decorations. As a result, the foundation now has four festively-decorated Christmas trees.  

“When people asked me how it was when Noah was ill, I tell them it was very painful for me as his father. I saw how his little body shook when he was injected with the chemo meds, and then later when his hair fell out. It was like hell but at the time, I felt like we were surrounded by angels. That was our experience in Philadelphia,” Butch said.

“There was so much support from everyone from the doctors, nurses and social workers to the community and the staff at the Ronald McDonald facility. It was a constant struggle but we never felt we were alone in this journey.”

He wants Little Ark Foundation to grow to be something like that especially for people with sick children who might feel that the world is a dark and unfriendly place. Butch shared that based on findings provided by the PCH, treatment compliance for its pediatric patients has increased from 72% to 86% since the the first LAF facility was set up 14 months ago. 

“When Noah was undergoing treatment, it felt like we were given a problem, a challenge by God but at the same time God gave us the resources to go through it. That’s why I put up the foundation. I wanted to do exactly the same thing for those undergoing the same challenge we went through,” he said.

The foundation’s partnership with the Philippine Children’s Hospital has helped Butch connect with different groups of people interested to help sustain Little Ark but the journey is far from over. 

Butch is tired but unfazed. He knows that he is just a small part in Little Ark but more importantly, he knows that he only needs to ask. 

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