Seven months ago, I was visiting Esther Joy Linart, in Philippine General Hospital Ward 11.  Joy was 11 years old and fighting the pain and horror of bone cancer.  That day, I was there, helping her cope with the reality that she was going to lose her right leg.  As I listened to her, I could not help but reflect on how at a very young age, she was already facing a major loss.  She shared with me her fears of losing her leg ---- of not being able to do the things she enjoyed most --- playing, running, dancing... of not being able  to live long enough to graduate and live out her dreams of taking care of her mother, Claire,  who had stood by her and single-handedly taken care of her, through all these trying years.

The amputation was completed --- it was successful and we all rejoiced that even if she was losing her leg, she was going to survive.  In November, during the Terry Fox Run ( a Canadian who also lost his leg to cancer),  we run with her (a team of Cancer Warrior volunteers pushed/carried her wheelchair) from Cultural Center grounds all the way to Luneta, to help meet her dream of having a new leg.  She was so happy that day with all the promises she was given by key personalities.  Unfortunately, a month and a half later, before they could make good on their promise of a new leg, Joy developed a new infection and was unable to recover.  On Christmas day, her mother marked Christmas alone, watching her only daughter in a coffin.