As we waited in the visitors area at first we all whispered about who we know have visited her. Then Sister came and we all took turns hugging her. She's thinner than before but for someone who's going though a lot of cancer treatment she looks good, to be honest. She then spoke, she couldn't pronounce well or as we call it here in the Philippines "bulol" , it was because of all the therapy she was going through. Although prior to that, during the early stages, of which when she hadn't found out yet that it was cancer, wherein she couldn't speak and hat to use a chalkboard to let people know what she wanted to say.
Thank God now she can talk. Sadly since she was "bulol" we couldn't understand half of what she was saying but we understood most of her stories. The one that touched us the most was when she told us that St. Therese of the child Jesus was her patron saint, she would pray to her everyday, and one time she asked St. Therese please send me one rose as a sign than I am getting better, a few days after, just this Thursday to be exact Angelica and I along with our other high school friends were supposed to visit Sister but we missed her when she left for some treatments. So we left her our gifts.That night when she got to the convent the lady at the front desk had given her our gifts, and one of them was a bouquet of roses. She hugged them and cried and said St. Therese I was asking for only one. Hopefully with that sign it really does mean that she's getting better.
As she was telling us stories she was actually smiling and at times laughing. It was such a delight to see someone of her predicament to still have a smile on her face. She even said that she accepts her fate and is constantly praying to God.
The whole visit Sister Tess mostly did all the talking, since she does love to talk, despite her condition which I found awesome of her, since she still has that fighting and tenacious spirit that I remember when I was in high school. The four of us in the room with her didn't say much, maybe because we were caught off guard about how her condition and maybe we felt that if we talked too much it would tire Sister Tess, but it seemingly did not tire her.
It's definitely hard to see someone close to you to go through such a large obstacle in life, in this case cancer, most especially a mentor like persona. But Sister through my eyes is an inspiration because she accepts what she's going through and she continues to fight it.
Right now she asks for prayers from everyone and as I hugged her goodbye I reassured her that we will continuously be praying for her. As I wiped off tears while walking away, in my head I said "God please help her."
To those of you reading this, please please please pray for her recovery and if you don't really pray then just think of a positive thought that she will get through this.
<--This is me and my friend Rosa with Sister Tess taken at our high school graduation.
