Interviewer: Liv R.

Interview subject: a Friend

People have always seen me as a tough, fearless girl who had boys for friends. I basically didn’t act like how a girl would. But they didn’t know I had to be that way.

On January 2001, my mom got pregnant with my brother. My father’s parents wanted nothing to do with him. They said that my mom should either get an abortion or raise ‘it’ by herself. My mother’s parents on the other hand, were very happy and supportive. Since my mom was still in college, where she was studying law, she had to drop out and give up her dream of becoming a lawyer. On September 2001, she had her firstborn. All of a sudden, my father’s parents came to their senses and wanted to be a part of  my brother’s life. Three months after my brother’s birth, my parents got married. I was born 11 months later.

Throughout the years, my parents have struggled financially. My mom decided to work abroad to make more money so she can provide for me and my brother. She worked as a nanny in Taiwan for two years and later got hired to work in Canada. My mom left the Philippines when I was three and my brother was four. Since no one can take care of us at home, my dad would drop us off at our grandma’s house.

Fast forward to August 2016, my dad, brother and me came to Canada to finally be reunited with mom. Canada is filled with new possibilities and new opportunities right? Well, six months after we arrived, my mom had a stroke. A brain aneurysm. Blood was filling her brain. She was taken to Sunny Brook hospital. They had to put a coil in her brain to stop the bleeding. But it didn’t; the doctor said ‘her life is in danger’. Who knew five words could break you more than anything else in your entire life. After hearing those words, all I could see was black. I couldn’t breathe, I had no feeling in my entire body. It’s true that I grew up without her and she missed 10 years of our lives. But now that we’re together again, you’re telling me that my mother might die?

Anyway, she was in the hospital for eight months. To this day, she has short term memory loss; she can only remember a few things, she can’t remember our birthdays, or where she is. She can’t move her left arm so she can’t really do much. My mom doesn’t remember who she is. My mom didn’t lose her mind, her mind lost her. The only good thing was I got closer to my brother. He is always there by my side and me by his. Don’t take anything for granted Tomorrow is never promised. #LifeObstacles