“Hangga’t sa makakaya namin, ipapagamot talaga namin siya. Grabe ang sakripisyo namin diyan. Kung pagmahahal ang pag-usapan, mahal na mahal namin siya, sobra.”

-Abdul Mokaram

Abdul Naim Mokaram seemed like a healthy boy. The youngest child of a couple with only two children, the boy is kind of chubby, always had a smile on his face, and rarely got sick.

Until one day, he urinated blood.

It was when his parents, Abdul Mokaram and Samsia Mokaram, decided to seek medical attention. It was the boy’s first time in the hospital, too.

At the hospital in North Cotabato, doctors said the boy had an acute Urinary Tract Infection (UTI).

A lump on his left abdomen proved it was more than that.

Further tests showed that the lump was a Wilm’s tumor.

The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota said Wilms’ tumor is a rare kidney cancer that usually affects children. Also known as nephroblastoma, it is the most common cancer of the kidneys in children, affecting 3-year-old to 4-year-old kids, but becomes much less common after age 5. 

The website www.childrenscancer.org defines nephroblastoma as a mass of cancer cells that grow in kidney tissue. It accounts for 95 percent of kidney and renal cancers in children under the age of 14.

Naim was diagnosed in September 2014. He was only 3 years old.

He was later scheduled for a surgery to remove the massive lump from his kidney.

“Natakot kami. Hindi kasi basta basta ang sakit. Wala naman kaming kamag-anak na may ganoon na sakit. Malusog naman siya na bata, malakas kumain. Nabigla talaga kami,” his father, Abdul, said.

Samsia recalled the day of the operation.

“I was very scared for our little boy. I could not help but cry until it was over,” she said.

The father, on the one hand, had to be strong for the family whose financial capacity was even not enough to send the eldest son, a 17-year-old, to school. 

They were anxious, yes, but to succumb to what was supposed to be distressing was the last thing in their mind.

Through their order, their faith  in  the “Higher Power” was their constant source of hope and determination to not give up the fight of their youngest son.

“Naniniwala tayo sa itaas. Siya kasi ang tunay na tumutulong sa atin. Huwag lang tayo’ng mawalan ng pag-asa.”
Naim left the hospital in October.

“Pagkatapos ng operasyon, tinanong ko siya kung masakit pa ba ang tiyan niya. Sinasabi niyang hindi na kasi wala na raw yung bukol.”

While many patients respond well after the removal of the Wilm’s tumor through surgery or chemotherapy, reports said recurrences may occur and the cancer can spread to other tissues.

But the family, even Naim, is blessed with overflowing belief that his battle with cancer will soon be over.

“Masaya pa din siya na bata. Parang walang sakit. Pero minsan, parang wala siyang gana kumain. Pero kahit ganoon, okay naman din, lumalaban,”  the father said.

At the moment, Naim is still going through chemotherapy.

Every now and then they travel to Davao City for the chemotherapy sessions, seeking shelter at Davao’s House of Hope, a center for children with cancer.

“Lagi naming sinasabi sa sarili namin na ‘pagsubok lang ‘yan,’” said Abdul, “hindi kami nawawalan ng pag-asa.”

This article authored by May Ann Love Deseo was published in Excalibur, the magazine edition of Crossroads.