Miracles during and beyond Holy Week (part 2)

Rommel also enclosed a letter for our Parish Priest as follows: " I am Rommel E. Paz, a previous guitarist of Tsukuba Church when I was at training in Japan. I came home to the Philippines four years ago (Feb. 2003) after my training. Father Mike, kindly help my son spiritually and financially to relieve his pain. My son is Rogemmel Benedict Paz, born May 26, 2005. I''ve got the name Benedict after the beatification of Pope Benedict XVI. My son has a tumor in his brain and a secondary hydrocephalus and needs an urgent operation to survive. We need to settle as much as 300,000 pesos for his operation but according to his doctor a secondary operation will be needed if the first operation is not completed to take the tumor which has the size of 3.9X4.0X4.1cm base on his CT-Scan. Hope through this simple letter you could able to help us both spiritually and financially. Please include my son in your mass. In-Christ, Rommel Eugenio Paz ( and his wife) Gemmalyn Coloma Paz."

Then, the next miracle arrived in the form of the next update from Rommel: "Good Day. Thanks po sa lahat ng tulong niyo. Good news po at naisingit sa operating room ang anak ko, kasi nung una sabi after holy week na daw siya ma-sked. Then thru prayers nagawan ng paraan ni Lord na isingit siya list, maybe tomorrow or sa Friday po ma-opera na siya."

Rommel''s faith continued to shine through amidst their trials as he continued: "Masaya po kami ngayon at least makakaginhawa na yung bata from the pain. Di na rin siya inaatake ng pagsusuka at narelieve ng mga medicines yung pressure sa ulo nya. But ang permanent solution ay yung ma-operahan siya, hope na di po siya ma-comatose kasi sinabihan po kami ng doctor na posibleng ma-coma siya depende po sa kakayahan ng katawan nya. Hope din po na sana di maging malignant ang result ng biopsy niya after operation para di na po siya mag-undergo sa chemotherapy. Lahat po ito ay pinagdasal namin kay Lord kasama ng lahat ng may sakit."

April 4, this disturbing update came from Rommel: "Nandito po ako sa office, para po mag asikaso din ng mga kailangan ng bata tulad ng Philhealth, nag emergency loan na rin ako sa company. Kaya lang po mukang hirap na anak ko. I pray na makayanan ng katawan niya yung sakit na nararamdaman nya, kasi nagtext po si misis sabi nya naninigas daw po yung bata maaring part ng seizure niya pero ngayon lang po yun nangyari sa kanya. Mamaya po ay magtry kami lumapit kay Gordon, may kakilala daw po yung isang supervisor dito na spokeperson ni Gordon kaya magtry kami lumapit kahit na di ako taga Subic/Olongapo...salamat po sa mga prayers niyo."

Then requests for prayers came and as his son now was finally operated on. The next miracle came in the form of Ms. Emma (if I heard correctly from Danielle is their family friend whose child was spared from cancer and who vowed to help families in similar difficult circumstances) who referred Rommel to several foundations that may help him financially.

April 6 reply and updates: "Dear Ms. Emma, thank you po sa mga assistance niyo. Dito pa rin po kami sa PGH, kahapon ( April 5) natuloy na po yung operation around 7:30AM,nasa ICU po siya ngayon with ventilator. Under observation pa and de pa po alam ang result ng biopsy, hopefully maging benign kasi po kapag naging malignant kawawa naman ang anak ko. Please help us pray po sa continuos recovery po ng bata. Thank you po."

April 8 update: Rommel shared his internet findings about his son''s ailment, medulloblastoma, a genetically-caused ailment related to Chromosome 17.

In the morning of April 10: "Dito na po ako sa office, nakita nyo na po ang picture ng anak ko? Good news po at wala no po siya sa ICU, mamaya sa CT-scan nya tignan po nila if may water pa na naiwan sa ulo nya. If meron lagyan siya ng tube para ma-drain. It would cost 15-20K sabi ng doktor so we pray na mag pass ang result niya para di na rin siya masaktan. Wait pa rin po namin ang result ng biopsy niya, sana po benign ang result. Salamat po uli. God Bless!"

In a second text the same day, however, Rommel wrote that the child is now with fever, signaling some infection. We pray for God to rescue him now more than ever.

God knows what is best for all, including Rommel''s son, whose condition has released the various miracles of God''s mercy and love during and beyond Holy Week. Do please continue to join Rommel and his family pray for God''s healing power for their little boy Chocho. Rommel can be reached at 0910-529-9437.

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