Chemotherapy for Mimi

She’s Mimi. She’s just 31 years old, kind and loving. She’s a great friend. She’ll be there for you whenever you need someone to talk to, whenever you need a shoulder to cry on, like how I and my little sister used to ran to her during those times of our many first heartbreaks. She’s a good daughter and a sister. She’s always looking out for her family. She’s a God fearing person. She always sends us bible verses everyday to remind us how to live in God’s Grace. She was the lead singer in a Christian church where my brother whom she fell in love with was the lead drummer and bass guitarist, while our eldest brother was the pianist. She’s healthy, full of bright smile and been in a relationship with my brother since 2007. They’ve been living together since then in simplicity and peacefully through ups and downs, highs and lows and now I would say in sickness and in health.

Late last year in September 2019, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had undergone 2 surgeries in just 2 months, removing what caused the illness. Fast forward early this year, in March was her first chemotherapy. It was hard for her, for everyone who loves her the most, she was completely devastated of the occurrence and no one in the family saw it coming. She’s such a joyous human being and the healthiest, who knew.

Few months while still in her chemo, after going in and out to the Philippine General Hospital with endless tests and check ups due to she’s still feeling hard pain, in 4th of July stage 4 diagnosis came to our surprise.

It was 4 am, I just reunited with my mom, sister and my niece whom I haven’t seen in 3 years. We were so happy and full of excitement so we decided to video call my brother to surprise them. However we were the one that got surprised from the news that we just heard. She’s now on stage 4. In a snap, the cancer has spread to the other parts of her body, to the center of her ribs. We were in awe, unable to process the news at that very moment. Just quite tears

During that call, they were in the hospital and she was undergoing a blood transfusion. Her long black hair were now gone and even her eyebrows. Her cheekbones were showing and we can clearly see that she had lost a lot of weight. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to see her in that shape, I almost didn’t recognized her. In my memory, she was always this beautiful woman that looks like Bella in Twilight. It was really hard to imagine what she’d been going through. It was also the first time me and my younger sister had seen my brother to cry for the first time. She kept telling us not to weep and that she’ll be okay.

After the call, it was hard to sleep. Thinking what we could do to help them, we pray harder everyday. It was clear. She’s willing to fight her illness. We all are. She’s on her 1st 8 cycle chemotherapy of Docetaxel every 3 weeks, me and my younger sister initiated and were able to cover the 5th to 8th chemo sessions, because my brother was unemployed, retrenched due to the ongoing pandemic and nowhere to get funds to pay hospital bills. Now we’re looking to broad different ways on how to raise funds for Mimi, because supposedly her 5th to 8th session has to be accompanied by another major chemo drug Herceptin, but we’re also incapable due to our daily expenses responsible as well, it’s her the most expensive treatment that would take another 18 cycle every 3 weeks along with Zolidronic every 3 months and her life time oral medicine Tamoxepin. She is HER2 positive and ER PR positive as well. We are looking for a goal of 30,986 USD or 1.5m PHP funds to raise for her so she can wake up everyday with everyone’s reassuring her everything’s got covered and she can live comfortably without depression anymore. Even with her condition, she still always go out whenever she can, to go to government offices and officials to ask for financial help, she would be lucky if she gets 5000 PHP or 100USD but most of the time is none but she completely understand and always grateful. She still able to see the light at the end of every tunnel, that her illness and this pandemic will end very soon. That’s why we humbly knock on your door to ask for the tinniest help we could able to get. The raised funds will be fully spent to her daily visits to hospitals, never-ending tests and check ups, confinement and chemotherapy. We thank everyone so much for giving a thousand and one of your time reading this lengthy and getting to know more about Mary Rodelyn Igloria. We thank heaven for making someone so incredibly generous and creating a huge impact to Mimi’s life today. May the world be at peace today and everyone is far from illness and danger.