Maria De Leon of suburban Oswego was keeping in close contact with her parents half-way across the world Monday as a volcano in the Philippines sent up clouds of steam and ash.
“I am very worried about my parents because my dad is running out of medicine,” De Leon said.
De Leon said her parents, Lody and Letty Macatula, split time living in North Aurora and Manila. She said they recently took a trip to Malaysia, but they have been stuck for more than 30 hours at an airport in Kuala Lumpur and unable to fly to Manila.
The volcano’s ash clouds have cancelled hundreds of flights in the Philippines.
Lody Macatula is diabetic and has heart and cholesterol issues. He said his medication will run out in a day and a half.
“They only brought so much medicine because they didn’t expect the travel was going to last this long,” De Leon said.
Lody and Letty said a language barrier in Kuala Lumpur is impeding their efforts to obtain prescription help.
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“We were told that there is a facility here that could help us, but we haven’t seen them yet,” Lody Macatula said.
The couple is now on a race against time as De Leon waits for an update. De Leon said her brother, who is a doctor in the Philippines, cannot fly to Malaysia to help their parents due to the volcanic eruption.
“All I can do is pray for them right now,” De Leon said.
The volcano known as Taal has erupted more than 30 times in the past five centuries, most recently in 1977.
