What gives me the most hope every day is God’s grace; knowing that his grace is going to give me the strength for whatever I face, knowing that nothing is a surprise to God. After my grandfather (Papita) passed away, my family life changed a lot. Losing him was one of the saddest things in our lives. Truly we know that God made things for a reason. A few weeks after Papita’s funeral, exactly for Easter week my mother got very sick. As you may imagine, spending Easter week in a hospital wasn’t funny at all. My family is my strength, my mother gives the inspiration throughout my life.
It was a hot afternoon on April, waiting outside a hospital when Janneth, my cousin, came out and said: “I have bad news, Tia has a brain tumor”. My dad looked in disbelief at what he heard. My brother and sister began crying. I was in shock like my dad. My whole world went upside down with that news. I was confused, and I could only think about the worse. My mother, my best friend had a tumor that could be a cancer. “She is been testing, we don’t know yet if it is benign or malignant”, my cousin said. Janneth was a nurse that worked in that hospital but she was off that day and helping the family out.
I walked away; I wanted to be alone but my aunt followed me and hugged me. ”We need to be together on this and be strong because we have hard moments coming this way”, she said. The wait was long and we couldn’t even see my mom. She was on observation. Several hours later the doctor finally came to talked to us. “Mrs. Galo has a brain tumor and it is benign”, he said. Like my aunt said, hard moments were coming our way. The tumor was bigger than a baseball and it was growing fast. Certainly, she needed a few surgeries. My mom had to get prepared for her first surgery. This surgery was to install a valve.
Getting this first surgery done, wasn’t going to help her at all. A week after her first surgery, she had her second one. This one was serious and very delicate. Doctors said that it would, take several hours to be done. I don’t recall how long that surgery took. Her doctor, named Javier Sanchez Midence, a very good friend of the family now said “Everything went great, she is a very strong woman, now it is time to rest and recovery”. The happiness of the family was all around the world. As I mentioned before, we all were very happy and thankful for a such of miracle. That happiness didn’t last long; four months later the tumor was back.
I was angry at the doctor. He never told us that could happen in such a short time. This time my mom looked worse. She couldn’t walk. She didn’t recognize her family, but even worse, she lost her memory. The tumor had grown over 50% of its original size. How can that happen? Dr. Sanchez, said that her tumor was hormonal and would tend to grow faster since, they didn’t get it all. This happened because it was too close to the brain. Another surgery? Really? I was scared. We didn’t have the money to get this surgery done. The two first surgeries were very expensive, and one more would be hard to afford.
We didn’t have time; she was dying. She was in pain and we didn’t have the money to help her. I decided to help with my savings. It wasn’t much but it helped, my siblings did the same and the little we had in savings, became a lot of money. Our family and friends supported our cause. Little by little, we got the money together for my mom’s surgery. Right after the nurses took my mom to the Operating Room, Dr Sanchez came to tell us that my mom wasn’t doing too well and that who would perform that surgery was God. Important to remember, the tumor was bigger than the original size.
Due to this, He was nervous. We gathered together to pray for my mom, Dr Sanchez, and us. At this point I was very upset with God. Why my mom’she was a good woman, she helped and served others. Why my mom? Why God? I locked myself in the bathroom of the hospital room. I cried and cried and cried, till I fell asleep. My oldest sister at the time of my Mom’s surgery was pregnant with her 3rd child. That very day, she went in to labor. Unbeknownst to her, my mom was dying. Thankfully, after a five hour wait, we saw Dr Sanchez with the biggest smile I had ever seen. ”Everything went well”, he said.
My mom was in intensive care and we just could see her for an hour a day for two days. She couldn’t remember what happened. It was a surprise for her to find herself in the hospital. I could see my mom smile again. She looked different, happier. That was the beginning of a long process of recovering and many therapies to take. I am very close to my mom; she is my best friend, my everything. After the surgeries I became very protective and closer to her. I couldn’t see my life without her anymore; I couldn’t let anyone to take care of my mom. I thought no one would take care of her better than I could.
I was scared that something would happen to her, while I was away at college. I had to learn how to carry someone who was the double size of my weight. Taking my mom to the bathroom, bathing her, and feeding were my new chores. Those were part of my life. God with his wisdom, helped us go through that hard path. I realized that my family loved her the same way I did and decided to let others helped me with that responsibility. My mom had to take radiotherapy and physiotherapy for several months. I arranged my college schedule to be able to take my mom to her therapies every day.
While I was in class, my aunt took care of my mom. We were staying in another city and I was the only one able to help and I did it with my heart. I wish I could say that was the end of the nightmare. At that moment, we thought it was over. No more surgeries, nor therapies. We didn’t know how wrong we were. After four long years, the tumor was back in my mom’s body. Unbelievable. When you think everything was over, that she was cured, that tumor didn’t want to leave her. This time everything was different. I wasn’t in the same country. I moved to The United States to study.
One night I got a call from a cousin, who never called me before. I thought, “oh probably she wanted some money. “I was wrong. She was calling me to tell me that my mom was sick. The tumor had grown again. What a nightmare, isn’t? I called Dr Sanchez to asking what happened. He didn’t know, but my mom needed a surgery right away. There was a problem. My mom didn’t want to have the surgery. Her answer was: “I am ready. It is time for me to go”. I called her and tried to convince her but she said that in Honduras she won’t get any other surgery. She was tired of being through the same path over and over.
I realized that being so far away, won’t help at all. She didn’t want to get the surgery done in Honduras and I didn’t have the money to pay for a surgery in The States. I questioned God again; Why? Why was God doing that to her? I called my mom’s best friend and told her about it. “I’ll buy the flight ticket, get your mom here the soon as possible”, she said. I didn’t think much and called my mom and told her what Rosy will do. I didn’t ask my mom if she wanted to come to The States. I told her to bring all of her tests, MRI’s and the letter Dr Sanchez would write with the diagnostic.
She had no option. A few days later she flew to Houston, Texas. When I picked her up at the airport and saw her in a wheel chair, I was devastated. I broke into a million pieces, but I didn’t show it to her. I showed up like the strongest person she knew, even though I was dying on the inside. We both got very emotional with the encounter. I could tell the magnitude of the problem. She was as sick like four years ago. When we got home, my mom asked me what was the plan. What plan? I didn’t have any plan, I was panicking. She could have died right there next to me and I had no plan.
I acted, following my instincts, that something would come up. Next day I talked to my boss and told him what was happening. He supported me always. Somehow he inscribed my mom on my insurance but that took longer than we thought. We couldn’t wait any longer. Something inside me told me if I didn’t take my mom to the hospital she would die that night. My cousin and her husband took us to the hospital. As soon as we got to the emergency room, they took my mom to get checkup. We didn’t wait that long, when the doctors called me and showed me the new MRI. The tumor had the doubled in size from last time.
My mom was going into surgery but we needed to fill out some papers. That wasn’t hard. The hardest part was to convince my mom to get the surgery. I was sure she was going to ask about the money or the way of payments, and she sure did. I lied to her, I had to. I told her that my insurance will cover everything. She accepted, and next morning she went into surgery. The doctors explained to me that it was a very dangerous surgery. They would do it in three parts, which two of the would be laser surgeries. I don’t know what they were talking about and I said ok. I knew our faith will take us over this large ditch.
The surgery was eight hours long and they did everything in once including the lasers. She was fine. She looked amazing as always after each surgery. She spent seventeen days in the hospital. In The States they don’t let you go until you are 100% recovered. Thankfully she didn’t need any therapy or treatment to follow. I was more than happy and I knew it would be the last surgery. God’s hands were with us all the time. We didn’t have to pay a penny for it. Since my mom is a U. S citizen, she was able to got Medicare plus a Gold Card. She stayed with me for six months since she had to visit the doctor once a month.
The last surgery was in September 2003, almost twelve years ago. She continues on with her normal life, working for thirty five years in a clinic even after her last surgery. The many times that my mom faced death made her stronger and very faithful. She is the person I admire the most and I try to follow her example. Every time God does things like what happened to my mom, but He is not trying to hurt us, He is only giving us a reason to do things better, to become better person, God always does things for a reason in my case was to get closer to him and enriched the relationship and unity in my family.
The support we received from family and friends was great. It is amazing to know how people love you and care about you and how constantly are checking on you and your needs. My family was a great support throughout that time but for sure I wouldn’t do it without God. Definitely you learn how to believe and have faith in God, because through Him you never going to fail. The wait we had was huge but not compare with the hope that God gave us.
