The friendly and engaging NANAY DORY became part of the breast cancer support group, the Philippine Foundation for Breast Care Inc. (Kasuso Foundation), precisely because she got to chatting with a fellow patient “Who was even more talkative than I” while waiting in line in the hospital.
Good-natured and quick to reach out to new friends, she candidly admits that her worries over her condition take a backseat to her anxiety over what will become of her children.
Having turned 60 last July, she is a single mother to three children, aged 36, 30, and 17. When we meet her she is wearing a bright pink bonnet, owned by her second daughter who uses it when her psoriasis affects her scalp.
Aside from her daughter’s skin condition, what worries Nanay Dory most is her 17-year-old son’s cerebral palsy. She is glad, however, to be free of her momentary isolation in Batangas and to be living, albeit crowdedly, with her children in Muntinlupa.
Despite her health issues and pains, she is grateful to be near them, and to attend to their needs.
We get a glimpse of the sleeping boy and it is obvious that his mother dotes on him, stroking her son’s face affectionately as she talks to us about living with cancer.
She voices her gratitude to the Kasuso Foundation for extending not only sorely-needed help with food, medicines, and laboratory procedures, but also to the Chat Groups that give her inspiration from other patients who are going through the same things as she is, if not worse.
On good days when she is feeling well, Nanay Dory spends her time singing her heart out to old 1960s songs via the popular Starmaker App.
A devoted mother who continues to focus on her blessings and her kids despite her illness and advancing years, she smilingly reminds us, “Let’s be thankful that there are people willing to help. That there are medicines and treatments to help us get better. I personally feel the point of this long treatment process is for me to prepare my children, especially my youngest, to live well.”
Such is the strength and perseverance of this mother’s heart.
The person who gave her testimonial and/or shared her image and/or likeness in these videos did so freely and voluntarily. All rights reserved 2022