After Five

Mio's turning 6 on Tuesday and for the longest time, I've been planning in my head that he'll have an Easter celebration the Sunday before and celebrate it with other kids. I tried collaborating with other foundations but everyone had plans and I didn't seem to have the funds to initiate such an event all by myself. The rest of the Miowarriors are fighting their own battles and I'm busy basking in gratitude that my son is recovering so so well.

We're having a very laid back Easter Egg hunt (I googled images of easter eggs and I got these!) cut them out, and will stick them around the all new Pino Resto Bar at their new home along Malingap St. where the remaining prints of StART With Mio are still on display. I also got blank easter eggs the kids can color instead of them running around:

 

 

 

 

Mio's artworks at the background. Photos of Pino by Snapshock Photography

We came from chemo yesterday and seems like he's no longer used to the needles, he kept saying "owie!" again and again during CBC which showed a really good blood count. He also gained weight and grew taller. He's 3 feet and 8 inches tall now!

His hair is slowly inching its way out and he never hid his bald head throughout this ordeal, I'm so proud of Mio. He's been very resilient and still diligently taking his oral medication. Just a little more and I actually think he'll start taking the full tablet without crushing it. Methatrexate is out of stock so we're stuck with Mercaptopurine. The Prednisone dose is just enough so he eats a lot after every session and then he regains his normal appetite after, I really don't know what its for but its yucky, he said.

On the other hand, I've been corresponding with several other parents who have kids with rare diseases and my heart bleeds for them. I hope they too receive the same kind of help. Please take some time to check out the following sites:

We Can Help Benjie is a project by my close friend, Kabbie Rodriguez. Her cousin is suffering from Lymphoma. I referred him to Mio's doctor, Dr. Allan Racho and I was told by his secretary that Benjie's medicines cost 125k per session. That's a lot. More than what Mio needed and I'm hoping that a lot of you would help him. Buy a CD or contact them to donate stuff for sale at their garage sale. They've raised 20k and they need more. Benjie's chemo is 6 cycles. 

Although Benjie has lived a full childhood, a teenager is struggling with his own monsters. Lets give Benjie a chance to live through them normally. He's such a handsome boy, I can't imagine how much pain he and his parents combined feel like. Mio is oblivious of the difficulty because being a child, I think his outlook about his treatments is easier to mask or accept. Benjie is faced with real decisions and hears, understand every complication, lets be kind and make it easier for him.

Hannah Ysabelle has Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome. She's two years old and is also a recipient of goodness. She already has her portable ventilator but still needs funds for operations, medicines and therapy. Her good nights are worry nights for her Mommy and Daddy as she tends to stop breathing while asleep. It is a nightmare. But we can help her. Carlo, her dad is a very talented artist and he has offered to make Mio Fights Cancer bags. We're still working on the prototype to make it in time for the online store's launch so it can be sold along Iggy's icancervive baller bands, the mio shirts and the benjie cds. These bags will help Mio and Hannah simultaneously.

new logo design by Carlo Cordoviz for the bag

 

Come to think of it, Mio doesn't have a specific birthday wish this year. Mostly because he thinks that when he asks too many things the thing he likes the most isn't given. That's what he said about Santa last christmas. hehe. Maybe its not too much to ask for all of you to check out or share these two stories so that the spirit of Easter--new life and new beginnings--truly rest in our hearts this Holy Week. Thank you :)

 

Our Plan

P40 and beyond. That's how rich I feel we are right now.

It may seem so trivial considering how big cancer is but any Mom can relate to me when I say that I am ecstatic that my son passed the Ateneo Grade School entrance exam! It could have been any school to be quite honest and I would have been happy to have come to a decision considering all of the limitations his illness has presented: late application, late enrollment, financial constraints, possible social trauma, fatigue, frequent absences because of his future chemo schedules, etc.

But I left it up to God with a little intervention knowing fully well that He helps those who help themselves. I looked all over and I bothered so many schools along the way just to find the right fit. I was told that a small school can be more considerate of his situation and I can probably afford it more (or so I thought because some have really reasonable prices considering the spectrum of expertise and credentials and unlimited possibilites the school can provide for a thirsty brain of a child) and Mio would probably shine more but at the back of my head, I had this nagging feeling of pursuing the only thing concrete in the vision I had of how I would want Mio to be. For as far as I can remember, the moment I knew that I was carrying a boy in my tummy, having gone through my pregnancy while in college, I got a lot of snide remarks saying, "dapat Atenista yan ah!" imagine the pressure I put on myself! I was a pregnant single woman hardly out of college and I had to plan how to get from that point to sending a child to a university.

I thought that if I worked hard enough I can raise enough savings and buy him an educational plan so that in six years time, I had enough toenroll him in Ateneo soon as he's qualified to enter the Prep Level. I did however consider putting him in a co-ed school or the number 1 exclusive boys school in San Juan one preschool after the other if only to resist being biased towards my Alma Mater. But I just felt that given the kind experience I had in Ateneo and my mom's when she was sending my Kuya there back in the 70s, and recalling all the good people I've met and who have been of so much help throughout the years I've been raising Mio, all I could think of was Magis. It sounds so full of s#!+ but really. If I wanted Mio to grow up with a good Catholic foundation which I felt I compromised along with the tons of new things he could have learned while I was home-schooling him; if I wanted Mio to experience being of service to others; if I wanted Mio to truly embrace the ideal of being the best he could be, I ought to put him in an educational environment that would be just as competitive in spite of cancer.

I was told that Mio is too late to apply already. I was told that Mio might not be able to cope with the demands of a big school as such. I was told so many things but I still had to try. Like in all things that I do, I never would like to think that I did not try hard enough to give him the best I could. And so I did. I braved all odds and after six school visits from QC to Ortigas, I said I had to drop off a letter to the Headmaster and appeal Mio's case. Even the lady in his office told me they're closed for enrollment. Even the Registrar who called me in to say that the Headmaster granted our appeal. She said that of course they'd give him a chance but that Mio might probably be in for another heartbreak if he doesn't pass. I had full confidence that my son was smart enough. Healthy enough, I wasn't but was sure as hell that I'll keep him in top shape to do so. I assured her that academically, my son will not have to be excused, they just had to be kind to his condition, him wearing a mask and help him develop his social skills while being around so many kids. But deep in my heart I feared that it wasn't meant to be. I also worry about the money and up to now I wonder how on earthI I'll be able to enroll him. But because I want him to lead a normal life, I pray everyday and trust that the Lord wouldn't make him pass if I wouldn't be able to sustain his schooling there. And yet He did. 

Its nice to know that some of the things we planned, in spite of the hurdles of cancer, illness, monetary limitations and learning backlogs, my son made it. As if he wasn't sick at all! He walked out of the examiner's room tugging my dress and said, "I answered in complete sentences Mom." Just like I told him he should. 

I am overwhelmed with gratitude a million times over like I won an award and I am so proud of Mio. Its preschool, I know. But in spite of him being sick, his thirst for knowledge amazes me everyday and I am so excited for him. My son will gain new friends again and impress new teachers. My son will bring home homework and have a routine that's so different from the hospital and chemo setting! My son will soon be free to play with other boys and hopefully run along with them and play in the playground! My son will join clubs and take Mommy toUAAP games (hehe)!

I am so excited and I have my Lord to thank and all those who pray everyday that Mio will be well. Look at him now. He is an atenista and although a scholarship is a long shot I will work tirelessly to be able to enroll him and provide him with all that is good for him. Going to school and making him well simultaneously.