Anthony Taberna's Daughter na si Zoey, Cancer-Free na: "I thought that my life would end at 13 years old"

Isa sa pinakamasakit na maaaring mangyari sa isang magulang ang magkasakit at makitang nahihirapan ang kanilang anak.

Ito ang pinagdaanan ng pamilya ni Anthony Taberna o mas kilala bilang si "Ka Tunying", isang sikat na broadcast journalist ng bansa. Naging bahagi siya ng morning show ng ABS-CBN na Umagang Kay Ganda at ng Dos Por Dos.

Matatandaan na noong 2020, malungkot na ibinahagi ni Anthony ang kalagayan ng kanilang panganay na anak na si Zoey na nadiagnosed na may blood cancer o Leukemia noong 2019.

Simula noon, kanya ring binabahagi ang matapang na paglaban ng kanyang anak na sumasailalim sa 'chemotherapy' at kung papaano nila hinaharap ng buong pamilya ang major life challenge na pinagdaraanan.

At ngayon ngang taon, isang napakagandang balita naman ang kanilang ipinaalam sa lahat ng sumubaybay at nanalangin sa paggaling ni Zoey.

Sa isang Instagram post, ikinuwento ni Zoey ang mga pinagdaanan niya magmula noong na-diagnose siya ng leukemia noong hanggang sa malagpasan niya ang sakit.

“As some of you know, i was diagnosed with leukemia on December 2019. since then, i have been undergoing chemotherapy. everything was going on smoothly, and complications were very minimal,” post ni Zoey.

Hanggang sa dumating raw ang December 2021 kung saan nakaramdam siya ng pagbabago sa kanyang kalagayan.

”My hair had grown a lot and i was getting back to feeling normal, as i could do a lot more things than i could when i was weaker. but my situation changed when december 2021 came. during this time, i would not feel well often and several parts of my body were hurt. when they brought me to the hospital, they did tests and said that i had problems with my blood sugar because it was way higher than it was supposed to be. some doctors said it was caused by my steroid medications, and by over consumption of sugar.”

“But as they looked into it more, after getting the results of my bone marrow aspiration, we found out that my acute lymphoblastic leukemia had morphed into acute myeloid leukemia. and this meant that all of the cancer cells that was supposed to be long gone, came back in a way more dangerous and fatal form. i had a hard time understanding why this was happening because from the start, my doctors said that this situation was very rare,” dagdag niya.

Doon ay nirekomenda diumano ng kanyang doktor na pumunta sila sa Singapore upang magpagamot. Noong una ay ayaw niya raw sanang umalis ng bansa dahil ayaw niyang iwan ang pamilya at mga kaibigan.

“I was supposed to repeat all my chemotherapy again in the philippines, but of course, my parents wanted the better option, so that we could be sure that i will be fully healed. my doctors recommended for us to go to singapore because medical care is really good there. so my parents did their best to find a way for us to get there, even during the pandemic. luckily, we were given permission to go. all of this happened in a span of just 3 weeks so i really still couldn’t process everything in my mind."

“I didn’t want to leave home, especially because my family and friends were there, and we had to be away for around 6 months. and when i heard that i was going to do intensive chemo again, i got so scared. especially because i already knew how it felt, because this already happened before. i knew how weak i was gonna be. i knew that i would have headaches 24/7 and would throw up all the time. i knew that i would have mouth sores and body pain. and i knew that i would lose my hair all over again. but all i wanted was for me to get better already so i agreed,” kwento ni Zoey.

Hanggang kinailangan niyang sumailalim sa bone marrow transplant kung saan naging donor niya ang nakababatang kapatid na si Helga na maswerteng kaperfect match niya.

“But after a while, we found out that Helga would also have to go through multiple procedures. like often blood extractions and different injections. i started feeling guilty because i’m the reason why she has to do it. if they would do those to me, i wouldn’t care, even if it hurt, because i’m so used to it already. but it was my sister. she’s never even been confined! i don’t like her feeling pain. plus she didn’t even have a say about going away from home.

“I felt like i deprived her from being with the people she wants to be with and going to places she wants to go to because she was stuck with me. so i’m more than grateful that she did this and sacrificed for me. everything that i went through here definitely wasn’t easy, especially because of the side effects of my treatment.”, aniya.

Kaya naman sobra ang pasasalamat ni Zoey sa Maykapal, sa kanyang kapatid, mga magulang at sa lahat ng mahal niya sa buhay na nanalangin at sumuporta sa kanya hanggang sa kanyang paggaling. Inamin din niya sa naturang post na dumating na siya sa puntong kanya ng inakala na matatapos na ang kaniyang buhay sa edad na 13.

“There were so many times that i thought that it was the end for me. that my life would end at 13 years old. i kept on thinking about my friends, my family, my loved ones, my church duties. what will happen when i’m gone? will people care? will they be sad? but because i grew up active in church, i always prayed while holding on to my faith, and i felt so much stronger.

“When i try to remember some of the difficult episodes that happened to me, the only thought in my mind is “wow. nagawa ko pala ‘yon.” it’s really shocking for me because i’m the most paranoid, emotional and easily scared person i know. i am certain that if God wasn’t there to give me the strength i needed, i wouldn’t have done it. after those things happened, seeing other people be proud of me made me happy.”

“I never forget to thank Him everyday for healing me and for giving me a chance to live a longer life. thank you also to everyone who prayed and showed their support for me all throughout everything. i guess it’s safe to say that that’s the end of my cancer journey. thank you so much.", pasasalamat ni Zoey.

At ng matapos nga ang 167 days na gamutan sa Singapore ay nakabalik na silang muli ng Pilipinas, Cancer-Free, very happy and thankful.