WE ARE NOT WHAT WE OWN

Guess everyone is almost done with their Christmas shopping and most of the gifts are now neatly placed under the Christmas tree. Some, including me, haven't started yet and merely thinking what to buy weighs me down.

A have read this article a week ago at Sun Star, A Shopping List For Samaritans , and had somehow concerned why with only a week to go before Christmas, I had only wrapped 3 gifts that are now resting under my sister's tree. The piece of Sir Mondax started, "WE'RE not what we have, and some people out there badly need what we don’t need to have, can’t, or won’t have to use, at least for this yuletide. Christmas will be merrier if their needs are in our shopping list, they who should spend the holidays in a hospital but don’t have the means to be there. "

Last October, I received an email and thought its one of those spams or chain letters being forwarded. Cold run through me when I learned it was about a college batch-mate, Perla, and her battle with breast cancer. I blogged about her here: A Stranger's Email. I tried posting her letter here: A Batch-mate And Her Battle With Cancer with high hopes that former classmates would know and could extend some help to Perla. "Sa laki na ng nabayad ko sa two times na operation at sa six session ng chemotherapy ko, hindi ko na talaga alam kung saan ako kukuha ng pambayad ko sa aking RADIATION." she said.

Malou, Perla's friend was the one who is circulating the letter. I really don't know these two ladies and can't remember if I ever bump into them at the campus of our old school, PCEC back in Baguio. I sent two emails to Malou and it was sad to hear from her that no one responded. The irony is, she even posted the letter on the "friendster group", BSN Batch '95 PCEC where most of the members are nurses working abroad looking well with their pictures posted online.

Last Thursday, I phoned up Perla to confirm her contact numbers and bank account. She was pleased to hear that I've known about her plea from the letter she wrote. I almost swallowed my words and was holding back my sobs when I heard her daughter talking while her mother was on the phone. Perla said she had to move her October Radiation therapy to this month for the lack of funds. She had been receiving the treatment for two weeks but had stopped for 2 days now because she can no longer pay.

With all these, Perla's voice was full of life. I was more emotional when she's the patient here. She was even excited to hear on my where abouts and said she remembers me when I told her my name.

I really felt her strength to hold on to her dear life saying , "4 years old palang yung anak ko ayaw ko siyang iwan at ayaw kong mawalan siya ng ina"(My daughter is only four years old and I don't want her to grow up with out a mother). We ended up our talk with the "unspoken" words of, "KEEP ON FIGHTING!"

As Ma'am CHERYL L. DAYTEC-YAÑGOT said, "...Sometimes, we turn a blind eye to the scenes because we want to get on with our lives and because we feel that our individual efforts are so insignificant that they could not overturn the prevailing misery. We seek the comforts of our homes, feast on our tables, thank the Good Lord for our good lives and ask Him to insulate us from the blight of deprivation..." which I am sometimes guilty of. Made me think, there is more on to this life than just being thankful with what we have. There's more on to blogging and talk about our family, our decors or the gifts we wrapped. And, Its not because of Christmas that we have to give back with all the blessings we are receiving. Its, "WE ARE NOT WHAT WE HAVE/OWN" as the A Shopping List For Samaritans started and ended.

You can send your help to this account # 318 3122 976 Account name:PERLA SARMIENTO, METRO BANK VISAYAS BRANCH QUEZON CITY.....Her cellphone # 0920 438 2342. Maybe instead of giving your husband two gifts this Christmas, spare the other one for Perla.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mother And Daughter

LINKS TO THIS POST: A Shopping List For Samaritans and SMORGASBORD OF RANDOM THOUGHTS