I don’t know where to begin. But this has been a rough road for me and my family. So the backstory and then where we are today. For those of you who know me, I love my mom dearly. You guys know I’d do anything for her. She would do anything for me and I am greatly appreciative to have such a person in my life. I am blessed beyond words to know a person like her. She touched so many people in her life. From owning an Assisted Living, helping me and my family, and also anyone that she is related to. The nicest person you will ever meet. She just brightens your day with her smile. 




So about a year ago my mom complained to me that she kept having these coughs that were bad. I told her to go the hospital to get checked out. She said ever since her Alaska trip she had been coughing, she went to her primary many times but only got prescribed cough medication. It kept getting worse and worse. So about a year of this she finally admitted herself in the hospital. This is where it all began. They do a chest X-ray and MRI and come to find she has multiple dark spots in her lungs and fluid. End result after many appointments, many biopsies, many tests, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. It broke my heart.  




After her diagnosis of the cancer she was prescribed with only chemo pills. No radiation or anything. For about a year the pills have been eating away at her body. From damaging her throat, giving her mouth sores, thinning of her hair, and just deteriorating her body. It killed me seeing her this way.  A Couple months went by and through it all we been going back and forth seeing her. Spending time with each other any chance we got.




Fast forward, we had planned to go to the Philippines for a vacation and to see my Tita Elly because she was also not doing well. About three weeks before we left she fell down the stairs damaging her throat more, fractured ribs, and messing up her shoulders. She also lost her voice. We fly and meet each other in the Philippines. When we meet  again she doesn’t look good. She is really weak, her hair is so thin and she lost a lot of weight to where she weighed 80lbs. 




During our stay she was coughing bad and choking everytime she ate or drank anything. So she hardly ate or drank any fluids. Weeks go by in our vacation, me and my family leaves. Couple days after we left our Tita Elly is admitted  in the hospital. My mom extends her stay to be with her. God bless her soul my Tita Elly passes away. My mom stays longer in the Philippines. She extends for about two more weeks.




She flys home with assistance. She checks herself in the hospital just cause she missed her appointments. Doctors said she was malnourished and dehydrated because anytime she ate or drink anything it would travel into her lungs and not her stomach.  So the doctor surgically inserts a feeding tube into her stomach. She spends days in the hospital to recover. After a couple of days she is sent home. All her medications and food will go in her tube. So from our aspect  you know I try to get my mom to go back to the Philippines cause I know that’s where she wants to be.  I been tryin for years to make her go back. But she tells me she wants to get treated first. 




So about three weeks later, with her medications and her food all going inside her tube. We find out she has not been taking her chemo pills, because you can not crush them or dissolve them. She makes an appointment with Her oncologist and my mom gets no answer. They put her meds on hold because Her oncologist does not know what to do.  While waiting for her appointment. She tells the people who took her that she wants to sell the business and move to the Philippines. So perfect timing, our family in the Philippines are here and are willing to travel with her to bring her home. 




So me and Jaz comes back to MD and we want to send her home.  We come Saturday. April 21st. And come to find out everything was a mess. She wasn’t able to pay her bills due to change of mental state or do anything which racked up to almost 15,000 dollars in debt from not paying her bills in two months. In all we try and fix things for her so she doesn’t have to worry about anything when she goes over there. 




Now the heart breaker.  Through the week being with her, her whole mental state changed. She was forgetting things, repeating things over and over, and becoming agitated at night. Our main concern right now is trying to send my mom home. But we are worried because of her change in mental state. So her nurse doctor came and saw what was going on and told us to send her to ER because she looks really weak and her mental state changed so maybe they could give her liquids through IV to make her stronger to fly home. End result she was sent home and was diagnosed with a UTI. The following day she has an appointment with her oncologist. Our goal with meeting with her doctor was to get a Med Cert certified to have her fly home.  Her oncologist sees her and immediately tells us that she will not approve her to fly and that she needs to go to ER to check her head on why her mental state changed. My emotions are running high because all I want is for my mom to go home. 




So we take her to the hospital again and they do a CT scan. They bring me in her room and tell me and my family the worst news I could ever hear in my life. Her lung cancer had spread to her brain which is why her mental state changed so much. Also swelling and bleeding of the brain tumors was occurring at the same time. I breakdown and again all I want is for my mom to go home.  As days in the hospital go on she becomes unresponsive at times and she is bed bound now. My family and I are heartbroken. I still try to get home but almost every doctor has told me that she will not be able to fly because of the pressure of the flight could harm my moms brain, and she can pass in flight. I don’t know what to do or say because again it’s my moms only wish.  So another oncologist tells me that they will do radiation to see if her mental state can get better and if she can become stronger for her flight.  So that’s where we are today. She has 5 cycles of radiation and we are at her second one.  My mom gets moved to another floor and a nurse there is very empathetic. She suggest to me maybe I can get a medical flight for my mom to the Philippines. My hopes arise again and I question about it. I googled it and they do offer medical flights. Now the downfall of it. The cost of the flight for her that will have doctors and nurses be with her and have her in a medical room flight will cost more than 10, 000 grand the least.  I’m asking anybody, any friend, any family that was touched by my mother to just help her get home safe. If the medical flight is out of the question then at least all for her medical bills that she will build up. I’m just trying to prepare for any possibility. Please please anything will help. I just want to get her home. If you have any questions you can contact me, email me, or contact my wife Jazmin.