Strong mothers raise strong children. Help me save my mother. Help me be strong for her. It’s my turn.

Resilient and tenacious. That’s how I can describe my mother, Nieves. Her life wasn’t easy and my heart breaks every time I think how she was able to conquer it all. She only finished elementary school and after that, she started to take numerous jobs as housemaid, vendor and seamstress. She fell in love and got married with my father. While bearing my younger brother inside her stomach, our father left her for another woman. She raised my brother and me alone by selling dried fish, fruits and vegetables at the town’s market, earning 3$ to 5$ a day. She was able to send us to school, telling us that the only thing she can give us is education.

By the time my brother and I reached high school, our house burned down to the ground. A year later, the new home we were staying in was totally destroyed by a typhoon.

Life was hard, but I never saw her cry; I never heard her complain. She always went home after a day of work with a smile on her face and food in her basket. She is a father and a mother to me and brother. She taught us that being poor isn’t a disability, and poverty should not stop us from living the life we want. Even when she suffered from her first stroke in 2012, she was able to survive it and with her weak right body, she continued to live as if she is not disabled.

I always dreamed of giving my mother a good life to reward her for being the best mother in this world; For raising two strong kids without the help of anyone. But life sometimes gives us challenges that makes us question our strength in pushing through, robbing us of the opportunity to reward our parents, to live the good life we so desire.

My mother suffered her second stroke last August 14, 2019, which caused her brain to swell. She is currently confined inside a Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit. The doctor performed Craniectomy operation, opening her skull to relieve the pressure from her swelling brain. She hasn’t fully woken up yet, her breathing supported by a mechanical ventilator. She also has the risk of brain hemorrhage and kidney failure from all the medications she has to take right now. Because of the damage in her brain, waking up, breathing on her own, eating on her own is currently hard, requiring her to stay in the hospital until she becomes stable. Everyday, I watched her fight her battle as she tries to breath on her own and open her eyes for a while.

May I have this moment to ask for your good heart to help us financially in funding her growing medical bills. I don’t know how long we are going to fight this but if there’s a chance given to us, we will do everything and keep on fighting.