'She doesn't complain'

Kris Aquino remembers that each time she went under the knife (at least thrice, including when she was a toddler and their police dogs almost tore her leg apart), the first person she would see when she awoke was her mother. “And each time she never left my side, even when I underwent an emergency Caesarian when I delivered Baby James. She was there in the operating room, with my husband James.”

Thus, when former President Cory Aquino went under the knife yesterday to excise a cancerous tumor from her colon (called a laparoscopic colectomy), Kris made sure she would be there when her mother woke up.

Aside from asking for mouthwash because her throat was dry, Cory also asked that her oxygen mask be removed since it was itchy.

“Otherwise, she doesn’t complain!” Kris says of her mother.

Cory checked in Sunday night at the Makati Medical Center, and Kris volunteered to be the bantay for the first 24 hours. In fact, she has gone on leave from her hosting duties at ABS-CBN in order to take care of her mother.

“Because of all my siblings I’ve been hospitalized the most, calmado ako,” the actress-TV host told me. She brought extra blankets, which was a good thing because Cory, who was nursing a fever the night before the surgery, was feeling “super cold.”

Taking care of her mom has made Kris admire the latter even more. “She doesn’t complain. Not even when she has to be put on a strict diet, or even when she has to undergo invasive procedures.”

Kris says she slept only a total of two hours Sunday night as she kept watch over her mom. “Kwento ako ng kwento to amuse her. Besides, they made me sign so many waivers!”

Before Cory was wheeled into the OR, she left the rosary given to her by Sister Lucia, one of the three children who saw the vision of Our Lady at Fatima, with Viel, her third daughter. She asked her children to pray the rosary while she was in surgery. That rosary from Sister Lucia, who passed away in 2005, has been lent by Cory to her friends who needed healing and it has given them a lot of comfort, if not healing itself.

Cory has a devotion to Our Lady of Fatima because it was on her feast that Ninoy gave up his hunger strike.

(I myself can say that one of the three most moving spiritual moments of my life took place at the chapel built where Our Lady appeared to the children in Fatima, Portugal. Tears sprung unbidden to my eyes and I wept. And wept.)

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When I think of what Cory has undergone in the past year, my faith is strengthened even more. Not because she has suffered, but because many, even doctors were not giving her much of a chance and Cory has proven most of them wrong. Every day is a gift. Every hour, a victory. Why, she had started even going back to office again and was even at work before the May 1 long weekend. No one is immortal, but to have defied the odds graciously, gracefully and without giving up one’s faith amidst the pain is testament to a God that supports, strengthens, and yes, listens.

Cory’s experience has made me believe in the power of prayer and in the kindness of people even more. Friends and even people who work for her (like her loyal security aide Mel and Ninoy’s nephew Bam Aquino) have donated blood just in case Cory would need a transfusion during and after surgery (she didn’t).

At the Mass for her healing last Saturday, among those present were her long-time friends Mercy Tuazon, Judy Roxas, Ria Roxas Ojeda, Jun and Kay Factoran, the Locsins, Ting and Baby Paterno, Ruth and Tito Guingona, Frank Drilon, Manolo and Maritess Lopez, Polly Aquino, Nena Penson, Sr. Remedios Centeno and Daughters of Charity, STC sisters Sr. Lumeng Torres and Sr. Connie Varela, Jackie Aquino, Popsy Mendez Aquino, Volts and Rhodie Gazmin, Noni Zialcita, Marilen Lagdameo, Miguel Perez Rubio, Leah Navarro, Ging Deles, Serge and Bettina Osmeña, Cris Carrion, Dolly Nazareno, Delia and Dondon Paderanga, Flery Romero, Evelyn Lee, Harry Roque, Nellie and Joe Ong, Joji Maldonado, Joy Jopson Kintanar and Osang Jopson.

Cory Aquino has been a moral compass, a North Star in a sky of flickering and changing values. She has given us strength when we were unsure we had the might to drive out a dictator or prop up a faltering democracy. Let us pray for her strength now that she needs it most.

Here is a nine-day novena prayer for Cory that started yesterday and ends on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

Prayer For Grace And Healing For Cory Aquino

(Please pray for nine days from May 4 to May 13, feast day of Our Lady of Fatima)

Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we come before you with humble but trusting hearts. You are the source of all life and healing, fountain of every gift and blessing for us.

We beg for your unfailing intercession before God, O Blessed Mother of our Lord. We turn to your Immaculate Heart, gracious and loving toward all of us. We call upon the three children at Fatima, through whom you taught us to seek true conversion of heart, persevering prayer and penance, the faithful offering of our daily lives.

We beg you to bring our petitions before God, as we pray for the healing and full recovery of “CORY AQUINO,” our beloved former President, from her present illness. Her faith and hope are known to you, her devotion and reliance on prayer are known to all of us. Be with her for her peace and strength at this difficult time in her life.

Grant us, loving and compassionate Father, through the intercession of Blessed Francisco, Blessed Giacinta and Sister Lucia, the graces we beg for, as we hope these “three children of Fatima” may soon be numbered among your saints in heaven.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for “Tita Cory,” for all sick people and also remember us.

We ask all this from you, Father, in the mighty Name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, through His Holy Spirit. Amen

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(You may e-mail me at [email protected])