dr. dado

i would have wanted my husband to blog about this story. but he doesn't blog. so i decided to blog about it lest i forget it. it is his story.

he works with children who have eye tumors. for some reason, these children get quite attached to him. it may be because he looks like a kid himself, plays with them, and is naturally nice to them in his sincere desire to help them.
kyle, a three year old kid, was one of his patients whom he has been treating since infancy. he is an only child of a young couple, diagnosed just like his other patients, to have a congenital malignant tumor of the eye. his was bilateral. as if this was not enough, kyle was abandoned by his father, who could not take on the challenges of the situation. fortunately, kyle's loving mother more than made up for his father's weakness and loss.
one eye was removed early on to prevent the tumor from spreading. the vision of the other eye he tried to save with chemotherapy. all throughout the months which stretched to years, kyle and his mother would visit my husband for check-ups. my husband would describe him as "amoroso", so "malambing" because kyle never fails to hug him each time they visit. though kyle was compliant with the treatments, his remaining eye whose vision was saved, eventually had to be removed as well because of poor response. their succeeding visits were quite painful and difficult for my husband, as kyle would say, "wala ng ilaw." for kyle though, it seemed everything remained the same except for this darkness. for at this time, instead of reaching out to hug my husband, kyle would just grope in the dark, feel for him and then hug him.
the unfortunate inevitable happened several weeks ago, the tumor spread to kyle's brain. the bulge on his scalp which kyle's mom hoped was just because of a bump, was also a tumor spread. simultaneously, many questions haunted my husband. should have i done this or that? what if i did this, could i have prevented the rapid spread? did i do everything right? tormenting. the kid had gotten too weak for any treatment and upon advise, went home to spend his remaining days with his family. they continued to be in touch with my husband. a few days at home, my husband received a text from kyle's mom that kyle wanted to see him. he just wanted to tell my husband, "dr. dado, love ko kayo." still a few days later, kyle passed away.

it was sad, but an enlightening kind of sad. at that moment, my husband realized he did everything he could. and i would like to think, maybe even more. i know he has touched the life of kyle in an indescribable way. he was just a vessel of our lord, the healer of all healers. and so was kyle. our lord spoke back to him through kyle. "dr. dado, my dear child, i love you."