No, that wasn’t the statuesque former beauty queen Abbygale Arenas describing her husband veteran photographer Jun de Leon, an uncompromising general behind his lens.
It was Jun talking about Abby, who battled breast cancer with all the weapons in her arsenal of faith — plus 18 rounds of chemo, a mastectomy, and 30 sessions of radiation. And she’s still standing, and glowing.
“She’s full of joy and gratitude after one year and four months fighting,” says Jun of the mother of his sons Irijah, 20 and Eli, five.
Last week, for the first time, Abby shared the most intimate — and the most inspiring — details of her cancer journey.
Her opening up of her heart and soul came as a surprise to many, who didn’t realize the couple were may pinagdadaanan (going through a crisis).
Abby recounts that when her cancer, stage 3, was first confirmed, the treatment course was laid out before her, with a princely six-figure sum for every dose of chemotherapy — and she needed 18 rounds! They live 10 minutes away from the hospital where they went for a consult and before they got home, Jun had already decided to sell their condo to finance her treatments. He told Abby he could live without a house they owned, but not without her.
“Just like that, our entire life was uprooted,” recalls Abby.
It was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year and as they were going for treatments, Abby was told to be very, very careful because if she got infected, her treatment would focus on only one thing — either the COVID or the cancer.
“It was like we were hit by a truck,” recalls Jun. “Inatrasan pa kami.” (It seemed like we were hit twice.)
There was a point, says Jun, that they had to choose between food on the table and chemo treatments.
But each time they would be at the end of their rope down a steep cliff, “God would send us angels, no, an army of angels!” says the grateful Jun, who tried to sell face masks with his underwater photos printed on them to help raise money for his beloved wife. But he knew they wouldn’t be enough. Then, two of their friends told Jun that as long as they (the friends) lived, Jun and Abby would never have to sell their home.
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It started with a suspicious zit on her left breast. Abby casually consulted her doctor, who advised her to immediately have a mammogram. She was referred to an oncologist-surgeon. “I asked her two things: What do I have? Am I critical? The answer: Stage 3 breast cancer. The doctor explained that my body has cancer and a factory for cancer. For me to get better, we had to do chemo for the cancer and targeted chemo for the factory. It was a very aggressive cancer and if I didn’t get it treated right away, I would be critical because it was stage 3. My next question was, how much?”
Her first visit to the cancer center in a Metro Manila hospital was an eye opener because the other patients there, who were in the midst of their treatments, had “blank stares.”
“That night everything just got real, that was the first time that I cried and sobbed for hours,” confides the former Binibining Pilipinas titleholder.
On July 17, 2020, her eldest son Irijah accompanied Abby to her first chemo treatment. Fr. Luis Felipe Villalobos of Everest Academy met them there and prayed with them. “He told me that other people’s prayers are the most powerful prayers, so I asked some friends to pray for me and that brought a sense of peace.”
“The next day I was feeling great, I thought I’d be down, but I got up, showered and put on my makeup, and went on an online presentation,” Abby recounts. But the next day was a different story. “Nothing tasted the same and I started to have the flu-like symptoms.” Twelve days later, her hair started to “shed” so she decided to cut it short.
Looking at the bright side of her traumatic “shedding” experience, Abby says, “I had fun wearing turbans. I even tried wearing a long wig and finally settled for a short wig.”
Then came her lowest point, her sixth session. “No hair, no eyebrows, no energy.”
As she hit rock bottom, she remembered what Fr. Jerry Orbos had said, “Pwedeng pagdaanan, huwag lang tatambayan.” (You can go through an ordeal, just don’t linger.) There were a lot of bad days but on good days, we tried to live a normal life. I would still go to the grocery, cook, go on a picnic, the beach and exercise whenever I could. Taking care of my family is the thing that I love to do most, and when I couldn’t get up to cook or come up with dinner, my heart would sink.”
Adrenaline would keep her going, and Abby, a motivational speaker, even continued conducting webinars with the help of Ijah. “Most of the time, he would pity me, but when my lights went on, he would see me light up as if I had no cancer.”
After Christmas Day 2020, Abby had an ultrasound and it showed her tumor had surprisingly grown to almost eight centimeters, compared to the original five centimeters! “My doctors decided on an emergency surgery. On Dec. 30, I was on an operating table. But once again, the heavens sent angels my way. Right after New Year’s Day, we got the best news from Dr. Diana Cua. She said I was super responsive to chemo because my tumor and lymph nodes turned out to be negative for cancer. On Jan. 2, 2021, I was cancer-free! Dr. Luisa Tiambeng was heaven-sent, while Dr. Cua was an angel giving us the best news.”
But her ordeal was far from over. She had another hurdle, a series of hurdles, in fact, to overcome.
Radiation.
(To be concluded on Tuesday)
(You may e-mail me at joanneraeramirez@yahoo.com. Follow me on Instagram @joanneraeramirez.)