Opening Remarks By Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala Founding President, I Can Serve

Good morning sisters and friends. Good morning sa mga kapatid ko sa kanser at sa mga kaibigan natin.

Salamat sa inyong pagdalo.

Welcome to our sisters from Jolo, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Tacloban, Tobacco City, Cebu, Pampanga, Catanduanes, Subic, Bataan. Thank you for traveling all the way.

Sitting here today, you probably cannot believe you are here and sitting up. Between the time of your diagnosis and this very moment in real time, you have traveled a road paved with pain, fear, doubts, tears, dashed hopes and lost dreams and loves.

You have traveled a road lined with injections, collapsed veins, chemo, blood transfusions, nausea, insomnia, burned and tattoed skin, black nails and a trail of falling hair and more tears.

But you’ve made it. You’re here. You and I are together in this our first family reunion.

I myself cannot believe I am here. I have traveled the same road as you. I had no idea that whas I believes was the saddest day of my life eight years ago could lead to this day of celebration, one of the happiest days of my life.

I say celebration because I have found my family in you. And family means it’s where you are loved best.

Everyone needs a family. Even Jesus Christ was born to a family, which was ,I suspect, the only way to make you and I realize that the family is the mirror of unconditional love of divinity.

Eight years ago the doctors told me I had cancer. Eight years ago the doctors told me I could never have a baby.

Today I have an infinite number of silver linings. I have a four year old daughter Ariana. And my family is solidly behind me. I now have thousands of cancer sisters, too many to fit in this ballroom. You are my second family because we accept and love each other unconditionally.

In 1994, I produced a story for CNN. We followed a former U.S. service man who used to work at the Subic Naval base. He came home to find the wife he left and the sixteen year old son he never met.

Thankfully, he found his son Dante. When they spotted each other some 10 feet away, there was an instant connection. Walang salitaan. Kaagad, nagyakapan sila, at ang unang salita ni Dante ay “Daddy!”

It was one of the most unforgettable stories I ever produced.

Little did I know that the tearful reunion between Dante and his father is an experience I would constantly replay in my own life each time I meet a sister in cancer.

And like Dante, we survivors instantly recognize a family member a mile away.

When we meet, the connection is so powerful. It’s enough to renew each other’s energy and prolong each other’s lives.

Isang tinginan ng mga kapatid sa kanser, nagkakaintindihan na .

I have discovered you, my new family I never knew existed. It’s a world where everything material is immaterial. Nothing to do with beauty, fame, political connections, wealth, power or lifestyle. None of that matters. We know that now.

What we know for sure is that the family bond is there the moment we cancer survivors meet.

You can get by the cancer experience without a cancer But if you do find them, it can jumpstart and sustain your healing in ways you never imagined possible.

And since we live with the threat of a recurrence for as long we live, you will want them beside you for as long as you live.

It doesn’t have to be a support group, a well oiled N.G.O, or a big organization. It can be just one person who acknowledges and shares your pain and loves you unconditionally like family.

It can be someone you love sharing a meal with. Sometimes I can serve sisters are referred to as I Can Eat.

Wala na daw kaming ginawa kundi kumain, lalo na si Bibeth Orteza, ang black sheep ng pamilyang I Can Serve.

We all have a spark within us. That spark of hope, of song and prayer. We are eternally grateful for the gift of life. The best example was the late Rio Diaz cojuangco. She was always glowing. She was giddy, ecstatic. She had discovered the secret to a happy life. Which is no secret at all. It’s simply loving and serving. Without conditions.

This means that we should see to it that our cancer sisters will not know fear because of ignorance. We must have to empower them with information.

We should see to it that no one suffers in silence. Because we’ll be there to make the clarion call.

Hagilapi at kupkupin po natin lahat ng mga kapatid natin sa kanser. Kailangan po nila ang ating gabay.

We should still stick together like family in sickness and in health.

We should see to it that the spark within us light the way for others still fearfully in the dark about their lives during and after cancer.

Finally I pray that the spark in each of us bursts forth in a chain of blazing illuminations to conquer the darkness of our despairs and celebrate the lightness of our being.

I hope our light shines so bright it blinds the cancer away forever.

Thank you.

I would like to thank all the sponsors who made this reunion possible No contribution was ever too small or too late. We can still take more!

I would like to thank Bridges group, Toni Gregory, Annie Ringor, Leah Caringal who for nearly a year, volunteered to share their trade secrets in many things including program styling, the power of persuasion, their valuable phone directory of clients. Thank you for calling on favors you’ve been reserving for extreme emergencies.

You are our adopted sisters, just like Gina Arroyo.

Thank you Gina for your incredible calm and efficiency.

Thank you to our families who support us in our journey as we discover we all belong to one family under the heavens.

Thank you Dad, Mom, Mommy Digas, Daddy Jun, Nikko and Gina, Marti, Mariel, Eileen and Delfin.

I would like to personally thank my daughter Ariana, my husband Dondi for helping nurture our second child we call cancer survivors. And for settling for my leftover energy these past months.

Thank you to all the support groups, hospice care groups, foundations who have been strong allies in the patient advocacy.

Thank you to my I Can Serve sisters. You’re all so wonderful and perfect. Having you as sisters makes up for the fact I’m the only girl in my family.

Friends I would like you to meet my I Can Serve family.

Please give them a round of applause. They tirelessly staged this event kahit sabi ng doctor bawal ang stress at puyat! (I Can Serve sisters on stage)

In behalf of my sisters, I thank you all. God bless us all!