Happy Birthday Mom!

It was 29 years ago when my mother had her last birthday. I was 8 years old then and in grade 2. What I can recall is she was already thin and pale at that time. She was still able to attend my sister's graduation day.

She had PKD but I have no knowledge whether she or my father knew that she had PKD. I do not know if doctors at that time knew about PKD. I wonder what year PKD was discovered?

From stories of my relatives though, i think they know she had end-stage renal disease. It was said that dialysis was recommended to her at that time. But dialysis was in its early stage in the Philippines and it was very expensive at that time. It was said that she declined to save our family from economic crisis.

September of that year, she died at a young age of 39. But boy, she accomplished a lot already.

She laid the foundation for us siblings and raised as well. I can remember her putting me on her lap and personally supervising me in my homework. And here I am having her teacher's instincts.

With current advances in medicine and research efforts on PKD, hope has certainly shined among us PKD patients. Dialysis's costs have decreased. And among our relatives on my mother's side, awareness has increased unlike during my mother's time.

I'm sure my mother is watching over me in the heavens..smiling. Happy Birthday mom! You will always be in my heart. I will continue to be brave. I will continue to be hopeful. I will continue to live my life to the fullest.