Dear Mom

Bon and I are writing this letter to express our deepest gratitude and indescribable love for all the many selfless sacrifices you have made for us.

We suppose that every mother expects to be praised on special occasions, but we wanted to publish this letter and create an occasion to say that we are so blessed to have you as our mom. In fact, we believe that each and every day should be your day, and for that matter, a special day for all mothers.

When you were diagnosed with cancer a year ago and came very close to losing your life, it was traumatic beyond description and plainly unfathomable. How could it be that our wonder-woman of a mother, who never lets the challenges of life beat her down, be on the brink of death? To be admitted to the intensive care unit, have doctors dumbfounded as they fought desperately to sustain your life, to see you pale and in pain, bruised and battered from all the needles, and have to be sent to a foreign country away from loved ones to have a prayer of survival was more than enough to make even the most faithful faint. It was the sight of you lying in that uncomfortable hospital bed, breathing the uncomfortable sterile air, connected to all kinds of foreign contraptions, uneasy with pain, and so utterly dependant that drove us to swallow the harsh reality that we could lose you. When the team of seven specialists from one of Asia’s best hospitals gathered to formulate a plan to save your life, we listened and heard the uncertain words leave their mouths, heightening our anxiety and helplessness. We thought dizzily: What was going to happen in the next moment? When would we be returning home? Would we celebrate the holiday with family…with you? How many more months would we live on the ICU floor? Our worried ponderings were always interrupted by a nurse or a beep or buzz from the vital sign monitor.

We thought that maybe it would be easier to run away, to hide from the circumstance, to ignore the desperate situation. But as we looked at you and saw you force a smile to encourage us that everything was going to be okay, even in the midst of all your pain, facing what was at the time certain death, we were reminded of the kind of mother we were blessed with—a fighter.

Almost a year later, six months of chemotherapy, countless more hospitals stays, and 18 sessions of radiation treatment, we thank God that we can faithfully proclaim that you are in remission. Whoever denies the power of prayer and a faithful fighting spirit has not met you, our wonderful mother, Patricia Aguon-Cruz.

Even when you were in pain, fighting what seemed to be a losing battle, we, your children were at the forefront of your mind. We smile as we think about how you pestered us about what we needed to do for school and our careers and how we needed to go about doing it when the last thing on our minds was any of that. Ai Adai mom! That is your heart, and we would not change it for the world.

Thank you for your unconditional love. Thank you for believing in us, even when we don’t believe in ourselves. Thank you for comforting us when we get knocked down and for encouraging us to get up and fight on. Thank you for giving us nothing short of your absolute best. We owe our success to you.

In Jeremiah 29:11, our heavenly Father declares that He knows the plans He has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future. We believe without a doubt that your love was God’s gift of prosperity, and we have faith beyond any doubt that your fighting spirit was God’s gift of hope to us.

You are a champion among women and, as God put it, beautifully and wonderfully made. Your life is our occasion to celebrate. We love you!

Your son and daughter,