“Not a lot of people know about this but let me share with you a part of my life that changed me. It was June that I found out that my best friend, my strength, my hope, my inspiration… my mom… It was the time I found out that she had cervical cancer. I remember her breaking the news to me in a restaurant, and when she did, I couldn’t cry as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t breakdown in front of her, I couldn’t. It was time to be strong for her. It was time to be there for her, as she has been by my side in everything. If you guys don’t know, we are 5 in the family. I’m the eldest, and not only did I have to be strong for her, but I had to be strong for everyone.

Around July she started chemotherapy, and at times I would go all the way to Antipolo to pick her up, drive her to UST and bring her home and go straight to work after. Seeing the injection and chemo go through her veins made my heart break every second, yet I was smiling forcing her to eat and making her laugh with all the silly jokes, but would run to the bathroom from time to time to shed my tears. It was so hard to see her that weak, helpless and just puking everything she ate, losing hair little by little and her worrying about money, the kids, the grocery, her business… She was at her weakest physically yet spiritually she was at her strongest. It was one of the most difficult things I’ve been through in my life. I would cry myself to sleep at night. There were even moments where I’m off air on radio and a tear would just fall from my eye, or driving home. Seeing a loved one suffer has to be the worst thing, even worse than a break up, cause a break up you know you’ll heal but with cancer, you’ll never know.

Prayer after prayer… after prayer. My mom had a check up last month to see if her tumors was still there. She called me crying, and at that moment… My world stopped. She cried saying, “Andi, I’m healed. It’s a miracle. It’s all God”. I told her how happy I was for her and closed the phone. I knelt down in my bathroom crying like a little kid, like a little kid who had her mom back. Praying and thanking. I don’t think I’ve cried so much in my life.

Never really shared this with anyone but I’m so blessed and happy that I just had to…. Today is my mom’s birthday. This month she was supposed to have her surgery to remove her tumor, but instead… We celebrated today with my whole family over dinner. We celebrated with a thankful heart that my family is complete and that we had experienced a miracle. Have faith. Cause sometimes when all else fails… It’s the only thing you can hold on to. Happy birthday mom. I  love you.”

— I wrote this for my mom’s birthday last Oct 7. Mother’s Day may be over but not a day goes by that I don’t thank God for my mom’s healing. She’s now stronger and braver than ever.

This July… I’m taking my mom to the states for the first time. I remember we were on the way to her chemo treatment and I mentioned that GP and I talked, and that we would take her to her with us. She started crying and she said, “That dream to go to the States died in me already…”. We cried together. I’ve traveled so much in my life that I’ve been so blessed to see the world, but nothing has made me this excited. We are counting the days. Thank you Jesus! I’m indeed blessed.

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 So in celebration of Mother’s Day me and my siblings got our vaccine shots. All for our mom <3

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