A Son’s Love is Forever

Greetings Everyone! I'm Maverick Autor, and my family and I are knocking on your kind hearts to help us save our mom, Theresa.

I have never thought that I would encounter this kind of situation in my entire life. You know that feeling that yesterday you were just a happy-go-lucky type then suddenly with a blink of an eye it became one of your worst nightmares? This year was supposed to be my year since I was born in the year of the rat. Instead, it became a year full of challenges.

It all began with a simple rash on mom's skin. Since she had a lot of them we had to have it checked. The doctor prescribed some antihistamine to prevent the rashes from multiplying. After a few days, we noticed that her stomach was getting bigger and would complain that she was in pain. So, we also had it checked. Then he prescribed some antibiotics and pain relievers to ease the pain. He said, if after drinking some antibiotics and it still hurts we were told to have it ultrasound to know its main cause.

Results of the ultrasound were out and it was not good. The doctor said that mom needed to have a plain whole abdomen CT scan to have a clearer check on why her stomach was growing. CT scan results was not good news at all. The doctor said that she had to undergo surgery ASAP since the results were saying that it was malignant. Ovarian mass was also seen in the findings.

We've consulted an Ob-Gyn doctor to know what we needed to do. She said that mom also needs a surgery ASAP then she gave us the requirements for the surgery. While preparing for the requirements for the surgery, that's when we've discovered that she had water in her lungs and it has to be removed ASAP before she undergoes the surgery removal of the cyst because if not she will have a hard time breathing. The procedure used was Thoracentesis which cost around 85,000 pesos. Not only this procedure cost a lot but it also made us delay the surgery because our funds were used for it.

All the money that we have used was also from raising funds that came from our families, relatives and friends. Although I have four other siblings, two of them are still students while the other two has jobs but still it is not enough to cover our expenses. Not to mention that our father is already deceased.

But the bad news doesn't end here. Why? Because unfortunately we were scammed by around 30,000 pesos for someone hacked my aunt's messenger account and pretended to be her. Who would have thought that it was a scammer because morning that day we were still having a voice call. The one thing I didn't know was that in the afternoon it wasn't her already. After a few days, my aunt contacted us through another app and that's when she told us everything and knew that we were scammed.

I didn't know how to react, I was totally spaced out and left hanging on what I needed to do because that money was intended for my mom's surgery. To think that we didn't have enough and now we have been scammed. To be honest, there are times that I wanted to give up and lose hope but in the end I manage to be enlightened because of praying and having faith with God.

Day of the surgery and I had to be strong because this is a battle that we have to overcome. Again because of raising funds from our families, relatives and friends we were able to raise around 75,000 pesos but still it is not enough because they needed to call another surgeon during my mom's surgery. I was very anxious while waiting. After a few hours, the surgery ended and it was a success. That moment when she was transferred to the room and I saw how cold and pale her body was, I couldn't help but to shed some tears.

Again, it doesn't end here because I was told to find a blood bank because she needed to have a blood transfusion because her hemoglobin was really low. I had to think fast so I thought why not my own blood since we're of the same type? My aunt said that I can't because if I do how will I take care of her? The hospital said that since it is pandemic searching for blood became hard. My last option was my cousin who works in a hospital here in Metro Manila, luckily she gave us 2 bags of whole blood. I thought everything would be ok but still no. The nurses were having a hard time searching for a vein to inject to. It must have been more than 10 times she was pricked just to find a vein but it was really hard because her veins were too thin. So they had to perform another procedure called "cutdown" which costs around 25,000 pesos not including the professional fee. Nothing is more painful than seeing a loved one in pain. As much as I could I always try not to shed some tears because if I deteriorate where will my mom get her strength to fight? Sometimes she even jokes about her children being single and wants to fight because she still wants to see us in a relationship.

Just when I thought everything is doing okay because now she's in soft diet and no longer uses the medical oxygen, the pathologist said that the recent X-ray results shows that she has water in her lungs again and it needs to be removed again. So he suggested to have another Thoracentesis or maybe insert a tube so that whenever there is water we just have to drain it using a pigtail drain. With the sound of this it sounds costly again not to mention the professional fee.

The doctor also referred us to an Oncologist, a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The Oncologist explained everything in details that includes her treatment plans or what they call as chemotherapy. Just the name itself sounds costly and yes it does. One was an injection every 3 weeks that costs 20,000 pesos while the other one is around 40,000 in every 3 weeks. The most expenisve was the one called Bevacizumab that costs 50,000 pesos in every 3 weeks. The doctor said unless she sees the result of the histopath she will not tell us to undergo chemotherapy.

I have always been the shy type. Shy about doing many things and shy about interacting with others but I guess my love for my mom is stronger than the shyness that I have in me. Which is why we would like to reach out to anyone who would be willing to help.

We also need all the prayers we can get. To pray that it all ends here and it does not become a battle of cancer. I keep on praying for a miracle even if there is no longer happiness left for me in my lifetime as long as my mom is okay, I am contented.

Any help given by you, she and our family will forever be grateful.

They always that a mother's love is forever but what they don't know is that a son's love for her mother is also FOREVER.

Thank you and God Bless us all!