A love story. A battle. A promise kept.
Our Story
This is the story of Kel and Tel — two people who chose each other in the ordinary moments,
and held on through the extraordinary ones.
"We are warriors — clinging to the hope of tomorrow. Give us the chance to rewrite this narrative — to emerge from this storm, battered but unbroken.—Tel"
How It Began
It started with coffee. Too much coffee.
Tel was working long hours at a Cafe, and Kel found himself returning five times a day — not for the coffee, but for a glimpse of her. He never said it out loud. He didn't have to. He just kept showing up.
He brought her siomai — her favorite. He stood beside her when she lost her mother, when the grief was too heavy to carry alone. While others made promises about the future, Kel gave her something rarer: his presence, right now, in this moment.
"While others offered promises of the future, Kel focused on giving her love."
What followed was a life built together — full of adventure, laughter, and the kind of love that deepens with time. They had three children: Nico, Gab, and Alex. They called her "Love." And she was.
A Test of Faith
The word "cancer" changes everything. Tel didn't let it.
When the diagnosis came — Stage 3 Cervical Cancer — Tel did something that surprised everyone around her. She called it a "reminder". A "God's redirection." Not denial, but a deep, unshakeable decision to turn toward the light instead of the dark.
She overhauled her entire life. No meat, no sugar — a strict plant-based diet. Natural juicing and a healing mindset she practiced every single day. An unwavering trust in God. She believed — and she fought to prove it, with the kind of conviction that doesn't waver, that she could heal.
"Tel's faith was not a quiet hope, but a roaring fire that fueled her fight."
And it did fuel her fight. The tumor shrank. The cancer markers dropped. The doctors were baffled. But Tel wasn't surprised. She knew what she was doing was working. It worked. She experienced periods of being cancer-free. She began to dream of the day she could stand before others and say: I made it. You can too.
The Double Burden
Just when the family began to breathe again, life struck a second time.
Gab — their son, their child — was sideswiped by a careless driver while crossing the pedestrian lane accross their school after class dismissal. He was rushed to the ICU with a severe Diffused Axonal Injury. He was clinging to life. And Tel, still fighting her own battle, became his shield.
The sleeplessness, the fear, the sheer terror of watching your child in that bed — it cost her in ways no one could see. Her body, already fragile, began to break under the weight.
"As Tel stepped up to be Gab's shield and anchor, the sleepless nights took a devastating toll."
The cancer returned — this time aggressively. Her body was at its limit.
Written by Tel — early 2024
"I write to you not with just one burden weighing on my heart, but two. Each night, the echo of sirens from Gab's accident replays in my mind, the image of his mangled form searing my soul. The fear, the helplessness — it carved deep trenches of worry into my already fragile state."
"Witnessing his pain, feeling the fear gnaw at his young eyes, it ignited a relentless fire within me: I would be his shield, his anchor, his unwavering love."
"We are warriors — a mother and son — clinging to the hope of tomorrow. Give us the chance to rewrite this narrative — to emerge from this storm, battered but unbroken, together."
— Tel
The Journey to China
After a series of hospitalizations for severe anemia requiring blood transfusions, Tel underwent an exploratory laparotomy — a major abdominal surgery to assess the extent of the tumor. The procedure led to a colostomy, rerouting her bowel through the abdominal wall to bypass a rectal blockage caused by the growing pelvic mass. It was one of the hardest days — but she endured it with the same quiet resolve she brought to everything.
Complications did not stop there. Persistent internal bleeding and dangerously rising creatinine levels signaled that the tumor was now pressing against her ureters, blocking the flow from her kidneys. To protect her renal function, a nephrostomy was performed — thin tubes placed directly into the kidneys to drain fluid externally. The procedure worked. Her kidney levels stabilized, and she could continue fighting.
They refused to stop looking for a way forward. After searching for options beyond what was available at home, Kel and Tel found hope at Jinshazhou Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine in China.
Tel underwent Local Targeted Chemotherapy — a specialized treatment designed to attack the tumor directly, sparing the rest of the body from the full force of conventional chemotherapy. It was precise. It was intentional. It was hope in a new form.
Treatment at Jinshazhou is not inexpensive. But what Kel and Tel came to understand — and what drives this platform — is that early discovery changes everything. Had they known sooner, she would have had more time. What Tel found at Jinshazhou, she did not find for herself alone. She found it for others — for every Filipino family who might one day sit in that same waiting room, not knowing where to turn. She wanted them to know: there is hope here.
Explore the treatment approach →Tel's Legacy
Tel fought with everything she had. In the end, she gave the greatest sacrifice a mother can give — her life, so that her son could live.
"Laban lang."
Just keep fighting.
That was Tel. That is her motto. That is what she leaves behind.
Jinshazhou Hospital of GZUCM gave Tel something no one had promised: "time"". A year — an extraordinary gift she received with gratitude. The year before, she had spent Christmas and New Year in a hospital bed. This time, she made it home. She celebrated Christmas. She welcomed the New Year. She celebrated her birthday with the people she loved most. Ordinary moments, made extraordinary by everything it had taken to reach them. She was thankful for every one.
If she were here today, she would want every family facing a cancer diagnosis to know what she knew: that there is care beyond what you've tried, that hope is a practice, and that you don't have to walk this road alone.
For Kel, it was physically, emotionally, and financially exhausting in ways that are hard to put into words. But in the giving of everything — time, money, certainty, sleep — he discovered something no hardship could take away: that true unconditional love is not what you feel, but what you choose to do when it costs you everything. And that same love was felt by family, friends, and even strangers who supported and help them in their journey.
From the very beginning, Kel made Tel a promise — that he would always be by her side. She is gone now. But the promise remains. This platform is how he keeps it.
Tel's light continues to guide us.
A Promise Kept
Your Family's Story Can Be Different
Tel didn't find Jinshazhou Hospital for herself alone. She found it for your family —
for every Filipino sitting in a waiting room right now, not knowing where to turn.
If she were here, she'd tell you: there is care beyond what you've tried.
There is hope beyond what you've been told. And you don't have to walk this road alone.
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