BACOLOD CITY—Eleven-year-old Joel Berden knew he was losing his battle with cancer.
But it didn’t stop him from dreaming of becoming a banker and engineer when he graduated with honors at the Mandalagan Elementary School in Bacolod City.
He died at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Regional Hospital in Bacolod on April 26.
But he managed to ask his mother, Jocelyn, “to be strong” after fighting for nine years to keep her son alive.
As the world celebrates Mother’s Day today, Jocelyn, 36, is fighting to be strong for her son even if thinking about him always brings tears to her eyes.
Joel was the only child of Jocelyn and Ruel. They got married in 1995 but she didn’t get pregnant immediately.
“I prayed to God to give me a child and promised Him I would be a good mother,” she said.
Her prayers were answered four years later. In 1999, Joel was born.
But when Joel turned three, the family discovered that he had leukemia.
Joel underwent chemotherapy and blood transfusions. The cost of his treatment was steep for the Berdens. Ruel worked as a welder and Jocelyn took on laundry jobs just to make ends meet.
Ruel went to Saudi Arabia and worked as crane operator to pay for the rising costs and debts incurred because of his son’s treatments.
Jocelyn said she would be ready to give her life in exchange for her son’s.
“I prayed to God that He make my son well, even if it meant giving the cancer to me instead,” she added.
“My son was very loving. No matter how tired I was from work, when he came home from school at the end of the day, that all seemed to go away because of the joy he brought to our home,” Jocelyn said.
In 2007, Joel, who was then 8, joined the first Suntown Camp in Negros Occidental, a group that brings children with cancer and with serious illnesses, as well as those children whose parents have cancer.
And Joel was among the favorites of the volunteers in the camp because he was not only lovable and cute, he was also smart.
He had told the volunteers that his wish was to eat lechon (roasted pig). His face lit up when the volunteers gave him lechon. There would be a lechon waiting for him every time he joined the annual camp.
They thought that Joel underwent remission. But when he turned 11, the cancer was discovered to have metastasized to his testes, and his central nervous system.
Although pale and thin, Joel continued to go to the Suntown Camp gatherings to be with his friends and have fun.
Although he had missed school due to the treatment, Jocelyn said he continued to excel in Math and maintained good grades. He even represented his school in Math competitions.
He was also ranked eighth among the top graduates. He could have received better ranking, but he could not earn for extra-curricular activities since he was often sick.
Last March, Joel had been in and out of the hospital. Still, he wished to be well enough to attend his graduation.
On April 1, he had to be carried up and seated on the stage for his graduation at the Mandalagan Elementary School.
He grew weaker after his graduation. “What about my dreams?” Joel asked his mother. She cried.
This Mother’s Day, Jocelyn said she only has the memories of her son to ponder on.