Mom Fought For Us, Now We Fight For Her

Hi, I am Aaron Santos, 29, currently a Filipino migrant nurse in the UK.

I am also a son asking for your help keeping my mother alive.

Mommy and me.

Me in church with Mommy and my sister Aicelle.

OUR STORY

I have been living and working in the UK since November 2019. As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic started not long after that - it was both my baptism of fire as a health worker and the reason I couldn’t come home for a long time.

For nearly three years, I couldn't see my mom in person. I was finally getting my chance this month when the lockdowns ended, and I had saved enough for a vacation to the Philippines. So I packed a big box full of cookware and beddings that Mommy wanted, and bought my ticket for the end of September. But exactly a month before my flight, I woke up to the worst news of my life. Mommy had a cardiac arrest, and is now on life support after needing to be revived.

I rushed home earlier than scheduled on compassionate leave that my hospital was kind enough to give me. But I arrived to Mommy in a coma. This is not the reunion I was longing for. I wish she knew I was here. I wish she would wake up to hug me back.

I am starting this GoFundMe campaign on behalf of my siblings to humbly ask for your help with the mounting medical bills that are exponentially rising every day that Mommy remains in intensive care. We would not have bothered you had we been able to shoulder this growing amount, but we will be honest in saying this is already beyond our family’s capacity to pay.

In the stories below, we will be filling you in on details about Mommy’s condition, and also tell you stories about her so you will get to know the fighter we are trying to save. In the days to come, I will pass the mic to my siblings so they can tell you their stories, too.

My family seeing me off at the airport when I left for the UK.

This is in 2019, the last time I saw Mommy awake.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MOMMY

Leonila “Onnie” Santos is 60 years old. She had just come home from getting hospitalized for COVID-19 when three days later, she woke up coughing and unable to breathe. My brother, Abam, rushed her to the hospital, but she had a cardiac arrest on the way. They had to revive her for nine minutes in the emergency room before they could feel her pulse again.

The oxygen deprivation to her brain led to several seizures that lasted that entire first day. She remains a critical patient in the ICU; her vitals remain stable but she remains unconscious and intubated. Doctors are waiting for the swelling in her brain to subside before any intervention can be done, a wait that they say can last for two to three months. Most of her medications are given intravenously, such as anti-seizure drugs and antibiotics - these IV drugs are very costly and are given at least two to three times a day. Also in the midst of all this, she is given regular hemodialysis for an already existing end-stage renal disease. She needs to remain in the ICU this entire time, and the bill for each week in the ICU amounts to nearly 1 million Philippine pesos (15,000 GBP). We are currently in our third week.

The Mommy I remember.

The Mommy I came home to.

MOMMY’S TOUGH LOVE

We are fighting against the odds because Mommy Onnie raised us to fight for those you love. Mommy’s love is the reason we are all still here today. It is so hard for us to see her like this, a frail woman surviving with the help of machines, especially since she was our source of strength growing up. Our past as a family was not easy, and she had to be tough for all our sakes.

A quick story to illustrate this - I remember back in 2012, at the beginning of my third year in nursing school, I was rushed to the hospital after losing consciousness at home. I was in very bad shape at the emergency department and one of the doctors suggested I may undergo a tracheostomy procedure (a small surgical opening in front of the neck into the windpipe) to help me breathe. Mommy refused, demanding that the doctors take me to the ICU instead. It turns out that I had life-threatening heart arrhythmias and that indeed I needed to be in the ICU. I guess only a mother dares to stand up to experts like that.

She acted all tough, but her body betrayed how scared she really was at the time. Her blood pressure shot up, and she had to be admitted to the same hospital, too. This was happening at the same time my sister, Annelle, was undergoing chemotherapy for her cancer. I can’t imagine how she endured seeing us both ailing in the hospital. Fortunately, my sister and I both recovered well. 

It’s ironic… how the first procedure done on her was a tracheostomy, the thing she didn’t want the doctors to do to me. As a healthcare worker now, I see her need for it. But I can’t help but look back…. and even imagine how much she would complain if she woke up and saw it.

Annelle sporting a cool pixie cut during her chemotherapy days.

BECOMING A NURSE

I have been looking after foreign patients for the past three years. I’m used to seeing and taking care of sick patients. But none of that prepared me for seeing my own mom in this state. All I wanted was to come home and tell Mommy stories of how well I have been doing as a new nurse. I had no idea I would be showing her instead, by serving as her nurse in the short time I am allowed to stay in the Philippines.

You'll be proud of me, Mommy. Please, wake up.

WOULD YOU LEND US A HAND IN THE FIGHT FOR MOMMY?

We humbly ask for your time to help us fight for Mommy Onnie’s healing. This is a long and uphill battle, and we would be grateful for your assistance in getting us at least through this first month of treatment which will amount to 4 million Philippine pesos (60,000 GBP). With prayers, faith, and Mommy’s fighting

spirit, we are hoping that after this time we can transfer her to less critical and more affordable facilities - or that she wakes up, and we can take her home.

Thank you, for even reading through this. Next you will hear from my big sister, Aicelle, who also has stories to share about the signs of improvement Mommy has been showing. What a fighter she is.

Sincerely,

Aaron

#OneForOnnie