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VETERAN actress Caridad Sanchez is afflicted with dementia.
That is the reason why she is no longer active at GMA-7.
The last regular project of the 87-year-old-actress on national television was the drama series One True Love that was aired in the year 2012.
Ang kanyang anak na si Cathy Sanchez Babao ang nagkuwento in connection with her mom’s condition.
Kanyang sinabi sa isang interview na late 2015 nang ma-diagnose na may Dementia ang kanyang ina.
She was able to remain physically strong, but she tends to be repetitive.
“It’s a long goodbye. Over time, you slowly lose the person. You just prepare for it,” Babao said in an interview.
Nag-decide siyang ikuwento ang tungkol sa sakit ng kanyang iginagalang na ina para magkaroon ng public awareness tungkol sa Dementia.
Nitong nakaraang September 17, by way of a long Facebook post, nagkuwento si Cathy tungkol sa sitwasyon ng kanyang ina.
“Once upon a time, shortly after I had graduated from college, I asked her what her dream role was.
“‘You know, ang gusto ko talagang role na i-portray, ‘yun bang matanda na malilimutin na, pero paminsan-minsan, may moment na nakaaalala pa siya? Kahit walang bayad, gagawin ko iyang role na iyan.’
“The ironies of life. One must really be careful of what one wishes for.
“At this point, I don’t know whether I should be grateful that she’s now, unknowingly, portraying the dream role she had hoped for many years ago.
“Perhaps it will help in the coping, if I reframe things this way. Should I think of it as an answered prayer?”
Babao is a grief educator and counselor at the Ateneo de Manila University.
Ang pagtanggap niya sa kondisyon ng ina ay kapareho raw ng naranasan niya noong 1998, when her four-year-old son Migi, underwent open heart surgery.
“My mother is fading,” she said in her Facebook post.
“Day by day, week by week. It is the most difficult challenge of my adult life, next to losing my son.
“Anticipatory grief. This is what this is all over again.
Sa anak raw niya, they had two whole weeks to fight, to hope, to pray that he would get better.
“And when he did not, we had a few days to accept and to surrender.
Ibang istorya raw ang Alzheimer’s.
“The waiting time is measured in years. It is anticipatory grief because your heart shatters into tiny bits and pieces as the person you once knew and loved fades away.
“She’s there, but she’s not all there.
“You need to find your sense of humor. You need to rise above it. You have to accept it for what it is, and not deny it.
“You empower yourself by reading up about this dreaded disease.
“You have to love at all costs, even if now you have to love from a distance.
“You must never take advantage of the situation. You must do all you can to slow down the progression of the disease. That is the moral thing to do.”
Last September 22, Babao remembered her dad Vicente Babao’s death by another Facebook post.
Dahil biglaan raw ito, a lot of things were left unsaid.
“Today I was thinking how when my dad suddenly died at age 49 from a heart attack, I didn’t get to have the chance to say goodbye. To say all the things I wanted to tell him, to tell him what a great dad he was, and how grateful I was for everything he had taught me and done for me.
“I’ve done that countless times through the years through my writing, in my head, and in prayer.
“Now, perhaps, our Father is giving me this chance at a long goodbye with my mom. To say all the things I need to say, to care for her, and to love her. That thought somehow comforted me.
“Because throughout this long goodbye, though the time may come when she will no longer remember me, I hope she will continue to feel the care and the love. After all, the heart always knows, and never forgets.”
Follow me on Twitter at Pete Ampoloquio, Jr.
And with that, ito po ang Kuya Pete ninyo na nagsasabing, Christopher, my son, I love you very, very much, my love for you goes beyond eternity.
Adios. Mabalos. I always need you, Nhong!
BANAT!
ni Pete Ampoloquio, Jr.
