Blessed Life

Being a CANCER SURVIVOR many times it brings me back to memories that are so vivid in my mind that makes me wonder.

Firstly, as I was growing up, my sisters and uncles would say to me
that my mom had fallen and rolled down 40 cement steps while being pregnant of me and that the doctors informed her that she needed to abort me or her life would be in danger, that she and my
self could die.

My mom was given some pills and was told to swallow them so that she could have the abortion. My mom told me herself when I asked her that what she did was bury the pills in the back of the house and did not drink them, and that when she was asked why she was not drinking the pills, she would respond by saying "It is GOD's will if I am to die with my son, I will NOT do anything to cause him harm”, and as per my mom, my dad told her that he respected her decision".

My mom was informed by the doctor that if I was allowed to be born, more than likely I would not be born like a normal baby, possibly deformed. My mom told the doctor to let GOD do his will.

The doctor was right, I was born very skinny and before I was one year old, I developed tumors in parts of my body. I still have scars from the surgeries in the back of my neck, on the right hand side
of my right arm and on the right hand side of my chest.

More sadly I was so skinny and weak that I did not walk until the age of almost 7 years old. My mom and dad suffered so much seeing me the way I was. My dad was a business man whom owned a produce and grocery store and my mom was a seamstress whom sewed clothing from home. So many people knew them and many would come to my house and offer sympathy and prayers for my health.

My mom told me that just prior to my 7th birthday my dad was coming home from work when he encountered a lady whom told him what he needed to do if he wanted to see me walk, with no
questions asked, my mom and dad did what he was told and a short time later I remember him leaning on the second half of the front entrance door to the house looking out and my mom kneeling on the floor cutting some patterns for a sewing and my two sisters and brother playing and reading when all of
a sudden, I stood up and took my first steps.

My mother yelled to my dad to turn around and look at me, my mom and dad started to cry like babies, my mom was so exited that she did not know what to do. People came to my house when they heard the commotion and all were surprised to see me taking steps. My father wanted to thank the lady that had confronted him but to no avail, she was no where to be found.

I got to go to school and a couple of years later my family moved to my aunt’s house in Park Slope, Brooklyn New York from Puerto Rico. One night I came home around 10:30AM from my aunt’s apartment downstairs and as I was about to lay down I heard something strange I looked straight out and saw “JESUS” standing there with his arms stretched out and hands open saying something to me, and than sat down at the edge of the bottom of the bed, I could not hear the words he was saying, just his lips moving. I was not scared at all, than he vanished. It was NOT a dream being that I did not go to bed and at that point heard my mom call me and ask me why I had not gone to bed, I told her what just had happened and she just hugged and kissed me saying, “go to bed, time will tell”.

Many things have happened to me while growing up and growing old, many times things have happened that make me feel being protected and keeping me safe. While living in Brooklyn, NY I got married on 12/66. My wife and I were blessed with a son that was born on 12/67 and a daughter born in May 1974.

I was also commissioned as an Extraordinary Eucharistic Minister (Catholic) in 1981 and I have served my ministry since then as a Bilingual Eucharistic Minister, I also became a “Cursillista – De Colores” In Brooklyn NY in 1982. The company in NY that I worked for relocated me to MA in 1992 where again I continued my ministry and on 03/31/2005 I was also trained on the program “VIRTUS” – Protecting God’s Children For Adults – GOD has a plan for me, the same way he has it for all of us, I wish I knew exactly what it is that he wants from me, whatever it is I am here to respond. I do not consider myself “Special” in GODS eyes, just one of his sheep, the same way many other people feel.

I moved to IA from MA on 10/31/2007 and I have continued to serve my Ministry at Sacred Heart. In July 2008 I was diagnosed with cancer, Sarcoma (Pleomorpic Lipasorma) and the surgery had to be done straight away being that one of the roots of the Tumor was so close to the shoulder bone that emergency surgery had to be performed.

I took a leave of absence from my new job. The surgery was done at the Methodist Hospital in IA City. Doctors informed me that I would be loosing a lot of motion in my arm being that they would have to remove a fairly large part of muscle in the back of the right shoulder where the tumor was located. I told the doctors to do what they must, that I would accept the results however they may be.

On the way up to the hospital in IA CITY approximately 1 hr and 30 minutes into the trip I was talking to my daughter and my wife when I looked to the right side of the passenger side and saw a large square of ground with no grass and the image of the Holy Mother in the middle, I said to my daughter, “Why would anyone put the Image of the Holy Mother so close to the highway?” and my daughter responded saying, “Dad what are you talking about, there is nothing out there but grass, are you OK?”

With that response I got the shivers. Surgery was done, 3” X 3” muscle removed from the back of the shoulder and when the time came to have the surgeon follow up on the results, I was able to move my arm with no problems at all and the doctor could not believe what he saw.

I WILL say that the Holy Mother was there to let me know that everything was going to be “OK”, THAT IS MY BELIEF. I went thru 32 days of radiation at John Stoddard Cancer Clinic in Des Moines, IA. As of now I am a CANCER SURVIVOR anxiously waiting to know what it was that GOD said to me that night when I was a young kid, I know that there is something that I must do but I do NOT know what as of yet.

The only thing that I presently know is that I have some bills to pay for the surgery being that my wife had been informed when she inquired at the time that I was not eligible for assistance thru some organization that she had spoke to and I am OK with that, it is what it is. I got myself another job and worked there for 4 years until recently.

I am NOT LOOKING for handouts. At this point I am trying to get back into the job market which is sometimes hard. I have applied for jobs in the International Arena (Exports) my specialty but to no avail. I guess when I send a resume and a Latin name is there, it makes a difference and no response is received. Like I said before, it is what it is, cannot force people to do what they do not want to do. Leaving Iowa is not an option. We must rest right there, knowing that we are God’s property, bought with a price, and our times are in His hand, Psalm 31:15