Bernabe Sumayop III TP in the Philippines
She took care of me in the hospital, helped me to the restroom, and woke up in the middle of the night to give me my medicine. And even though she was exhausted, she never left my side. She spent those long hospital days and nights sleeping on a small, un- comfortable couch—one that was far too narrow and stiff. But not once did she complain. Not once did she say she was tired. She just endured it, as if her own discomfort didn’t matter, as if her only concern was making sure I was okay. And even now, though I’m back home and still recovering—with a JP drain still attached—she’s still the one by my side. She never shows weakness. She never complains. Instead, she carries this positive energy that gives me the strength to get through each day. I’ve cried to her so many times, frustrated about my situation, about the financial losses this illness has caused, but she always reminds me: mon - ey can be earned back; your life, your health, is what matters most. If I were given the chance to rewrite my life, I wouldn’t change a single thing. I would go through all of it again, as long as I had her as my mom. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Happy Mother’s Day to all, especially to the single moms.
I was raised by a single mom from the time I was three years old. But never once in my childhood did I feel incomplete. She never spoke badly about my father either. Instead, she simply told me that some people aren’t meant to be together forever. But she never regretted meeting him—because without him, she wouldn’t have had us. Yes, us. There are two of us, and I’m the eldest. Everyone knows being a single mother isn’t easy. My mom juggled mul- tiple part-time jobs just to keep us afloat. She worked as an on-call nail technician and sometimes as a babysitter. But because of her hard work, we never felt deprived. We went to public school, but we had everything we needed: complete uniforms, notebooks, and books. We weren’t rich, but we had enough. More than that, we had something far more import- ant—a mother who made us feel like we had everything. Despite all the hardships, my mom never let our struggles define our fu - ture. Because of her sacrifices, I was able to finish college with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Political Science. She worked tirelessly so that I could complete my education, and I will always be grateful for that. Fast forward to December 2024—I was hospitalized three times due to my heart condition and pleural effusion (fluid in both of my lungs). Then, in January 2025, I was admitted again, this time for 27 days, from January 1 to January 27, because my condition worsened. The fluid kept building up, and I was diagnosed with pneumonia. I underwent two operations: first, a thoracentesis to remove the fluid, and when that wasn’t enough, the doctors decided on a second operation to insert a JP drain in both of my lungs. I’m sharing this because I know I wouldn’t have survived any of it without my mom. She was the only person who was always there, always willing, no matter what. She is 70, turning 71 this August, yet she never once complained.
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SOURCE OF INSPIRATION
LETTERS TO MOTHERS
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