Christmas of 2018 was one of days we would never forget. Liam was only 3 months old back then. We were in a mall when he experienced seizure-like symptoms and also had difficulty in breathing. He also experienced the same episode in the previous month, but this time it's different - it happened longer and more intensed.

We rushed him to the nearest hospital in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, slicing through the holiday rush traffic. Neurological scan results were normal, but the imaging scans manifested otherwise. A mass was discovered behind his left lung. Due to this discovery we had to rush him to a bigger hospital in Manila to better manage the situation. At this point it was noticeable that Liam was really trying to catch his breath as we were traveling late night from Cabanatuan to Manila in an ambulance.

Further tests revealed that the mass had a size of a chicken egg, which was considerably huge given his age. His left lung was not able to expand fully so he's technically breathing with only his right lung. Apparently, the mass also caused a deviation of his trachea and heart to his right side hence he needed to be intubated to secure the breathing pathway.

Doctors performed some tests and it was determined that the mass was malignant. Liam was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma. Time was not on our side, Liam already had pneumonia while he's in the Pediatric ICU (PICU) and the antibiotics have little to no effect on his condition. At this point we convened with all his doctors and it was decided to proceed with the emergency surgery to try to remove the malignant mass and then do chemotherapy sessions for the succeeding months.

Fast forward... The surgery was successful. Doctors were able to remove 80% of the mass. After a month, Liam started to undergo chemotherapy for a total of 8 sessions. He experienced the same pain and struggles that usually comes with the treatment.

This marked the end of Liam's biggest battle. Or so we thought.

In December of 2019 (Yes - Christmas time again), Liam experienced difficulty in breathing like having an asthma attack. He was rushed to a hospital in Manila. It turned out that he contracted a viral infection.

The peculiar thing about it is that the doctors were not able to determine the particular viral infection that caused his illness. They said it's more likely to be a rhinovirus (common colds), albeit it has a fatal effect to his body. Due to this, the doctors had to change from one medication to another hoping that one or more can alleviate the symptoms and improve his well-being. His symptoms were comparable to Covid (although Covid was not yet prominent during that time).

Liam's condition worsened and he had ARDS (Acute respiratory distress syndrome), as well as multiple organ failure since there's not enough oxygen being distributed to his body. During that time, we convened with all the doctors and specialists (some of whom have already knew Liam since his surgery during the previous year) to discuss the situation. We were told that in the current situation of Liam, he only has 20% chance of surviving and even so, not knowing if he will live a normal life. We implored for Liam to be saved and for the doctors to do everything they can knowing that our son has gone through his battle with the Big C quite recently. From breathing through the ventilator, he was shifted to HF (high frequency) oscillator and then to ECMO (Etracorporeal membrane oxygenation). Even just before Liam was to be subjected to ECMO, one of the neurologists came to us asking us why bother doing the ECMO (which has a very high cost as a procedure) when Liam's brain activity is ZERO. She (doctor) said it may not be worth paying that much high of a cost if the patient's chances of survival were very slim anyway.

We responded, saying that we understand all the risks and possibilities involved but we're not the ones pulling the plug out of our son's life. We shall accept whatever the outcome may be. We submit everything to God and His will be done.

We trust and have faith that even though Liam cannot speak, he's doing his part of fighting to stay alive. The ECMO became his artificial lungs drawing out all his blood from his body while being processed by the equipment and then putting it back to his system. This scenario is really daunting even for us parents who already gone through the worse.

Despite all the challenges (mentally, physically, emotionally and financially), we didn't let our faith down as we continue to trust God that we would survive all these. There were times where we'd ask why all of these is happening to our family. We just put our trust to Him and let His will be done.

This experience knocked us off as a family. We sold our properties, our car and even loaned a lot of money from relatives and friends. We were given 60% success rate for ECMO. Also, Liam was the youngest person in the Philippines during that time to undergo such procedure.

A few days after being subjected to ECMO, the doctors saw some progress with Liam's lungs. They became clearer as each day passed by. After almost 13 days Liam was removed from ECMO and then a few days after he was also off the ventilator. While still in the PICU, he slowly re-learned things like eating and drinking. By the time Liam got out of the hospital (February 2020), he was still in oxygen support to make sure his lungs continue to recover.

In the second half of 2020, Liam began to experience UTI quite frequently. He would have some episodes of fever and was given different antibiotics to fight the said infection. We began to wonder on what's really happening so we consulted a urologist and nephrologist to further study Liam's condition. After all the tests and blood work ups, Liam was diagnosed to have a neurogenic bladder. This means Liam has lack of control over his bladder. As opposed to a normal case, Liam's bladder was very active and lack of control that it sometimes pushes the urine back to his kidneys, hence the UTI. He was prescribed to undergo vesicostomy but we were more worried about its resulting implications so we refused and resorted on doing clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) instead.

Having a neurogenic bladder and lack of control on his lower extremities are probable effects of the previous Neuroblastoma. It affected the nerves that control the lower part of Liam's body including his bladder, bowel movement and his legs and feet. Currently, Liam is doing CIC every 4 hours to keep him away from UTI and it works for him. He's also doing physiotherapy everyday to practice his thighs, legs and feet with a goal of being able to stand and walk on his own.

Despite all of this, we still have faith that Liam will be able to recover and live normally. He's showing signs of hope sometimes being able to tell when he's gonna pee or poop, as well as now being able to use crutches to hop and move around the house. He's always been a happy kid and always seem to be optimistic of what he can do more.

Please continue to pray and support Liam as he tries to bounce back from all the life's challenges that he had to endure. And hopefully touch and inspire the hearts of the many.