2008-03-06 (Gloria Macalalad)
The Full Story

In 2007, I underwent a surgery to remove a mass on my right breast. After a few days, I received the devastating result of the biopsy. It was stage 2 medullary carcinoma. So, cancer it is, indeed. I didn’t know how to tell this to my family, but they had to learn of the truth. The doctor told me that my right breast should be removed, and I needed to undergo chemotherapy right after my recovery from the surgery.

Had I been more mindful of the lump that I noticed about a year after I gave birth to my youngest boy, I guess it could have been less complicated. I thought there have been a lot more complicated matters to take care of, including the endless financial issues that my family has been facing.

The very first thing I worried about, when I received the news that I have cancer, was the treatment cost and how I was going to pay for it. Of course, I was more worried about the outcome of the chemo, but I guess I was too determined to fight against death that I bravely faced each cycle of the treatment. I want to live for my family especially for my 3-year-old son.

I will not go into detail on how I dealt with the chemotherapy, but I want to tell all of you that my determination to get well has remained firm throughout the entire treatment period. Yes, the treatment has been painful, but nothing could be more painful than to see my family lose hope as I lose mine.

From the first surgery, I have used (and exhausted) the health insurance funds that my son has availed of as an employee benefit. I received financial help from relatives and friends. I know they gave their best to help me get through. I wrote to government agencies. PCSO sent help. Even my oncologist let me take the last session of the chemotherapy though I couldn’t pay anymore.

What’s more desolating is fact that I am positive with HER2neu. As explained by my doctors, there is a big chance that the cancer would recur. A 12-cycle treatment which costs about 86,000 per cycle would greatly lessen, if not totally eliminate, the possibility of recurrence.

Unfortunately, I cannot afford to undergo the said treatment. I was beginning to doubt about my full recovery until I learned about what Our Own Little Way did for my friend, sister Annette.

I pray to God that He gather all of you, my friends, brothers and sisters in Couples for Christ, relatives and colleagues, to share your blessings with yours truly. Above everything, I ask for your prayer for my full recovery. Please help me keep my hope. Please help me to continue my fight to live.