One Day This Burden will Turn into Wings

Published in Negros Chronicle on July 24, 2005
My Journey with Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas

One day, this burden will turn into wings

Once a story was told how birds got their wings. They used to be heavy object instead of wings. But day after day, they tried to overcome the weight on their shoulders and ventured hard to rise. Excruciating pain seemed to tear their bodies apart each time they lifted them from the ground. As soon as they did, they fell back to the mossy grass. But the birds never gave up. Someday, somehow, they thought the burdens on their shoulders wouldn’t be so heavy after all. Soon the weights ceased to be obstacles, and they became their wings, and up they flew high above the skies.
Have you carried some weight lately? I know some of you have, and maybe you were able to use those weights as wings.
This story sounds familiar to all of us. How many times do we face seemingly insurmountable difficulties and use the same trials to bring good to others? How many times did we witness the power of God at work? Countless times.
With all the negative effects of cancer to a person, it is still limited. It cannot quench the spirit, or silence courage. During this journey with cancer, mostly during my days of chemotherapy, which I had every three weeks, I saw and met people who survived, who used their experiences to reach out to others.
Josephine Gomez, a gifted soprano who is known to be the longest cancer survivor in the country, used her talent in music to serve others. She had recently awed audiences with her soothing, penetrating voice, touching souls, when she performed here at the Luce Auditorium. She is presently and actively helping those who have cancer nationwide. Josephine believes in God’s power and grace. Her faith in God healed her. She told me, “Never allow negative thoughts in your mind.”
Jane Pacaide in Cebu, a young flight stewardess presently working in an international airline, whose fight for cancer stemmed from her own experience few years ago, founded Cebu Cancer Fight, an organization actively involved with helping cancer patients. She organized conferences and seminars to bring awareness of this debilitating disease to those who have cancer and those whose loved ones are affected y it. The organization raised funds to help caner patients cope with this awful illness which has afflicted many people from all walks of life. Jane knew, that when God healed her, He had a mission for her to do. She openly acknowledges God as her healer.
Another cancer survivor whose courage amazed me was Sister Lucila, a blissful nun of the Cebu Cancer Institute. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1971, she underwent several surgeries, yet here she was, assisting chemo patient, encouraging them, serving them everyday. Her smile bringing light inside the otherwise lonely room where we sat on comfortable chairs, where drugs were administered to us through intravenous injections.
Doctors, nurse are gifts from heaven. I have seen their patience, endurance, dedication and compassion that go beyond the call of duty to cancer patients. They answer complaints in the middle of the night through cell phones. The “Please disturb me” sign is written all over their faces when we ask questions and needed assistance.
If all of these sounded too good to be true, try to trade places with me, which I know you will have second thoughts.
How I wish that one day, I could turn my own heavy weight into wings. No matter how long or how short life is for me. Unlike the birds, I cannot rely on my own strength, but on the greater power behind those wings, who is God.