BROTHER PAT IS TRIM AND STRONG AT 61; NANAY FIGHTS FOR HER LIFE AT AGE 85

Yesterday, March 17, both our dear mother, Efigenia, and eldest brother, Patricio, celebrated their birthday in a simple gathering of family members and friends.

Nanay Pining, who turned 85, gave birth to her first born on the day she was celebrating her 24th birthday, a rather rare and very meaningful event in the life of a woman.

Nonoy Pat, as we fondly call our eldest brother, has always been a healthy and athletic person. He never smoked and seldom took alcohol even when we were young.

As a police officer, he was one of the few who was chosen to train under the British Royal Marines Commando in London, earning the famous Green Beret coveted by the top soldiers of the world.

I hate to admit it, but he looks younger than I because he is athletic. Even at his age today, he still runs and rides his bicycle and keeps himself trim.

There was only one moment when I personally saw Nonoy Pat wilt under extreme grief and this was when he lost his family, his wife Dr. Ging Casalan, and children Jarah Patrice and Jan Andre, in the tragic plane crash of Air Philippines Flight 541 in Samal Island in 2000.

I propped him up during the most critical time of his life and fought a long legal battle in the US which we ultimately won and ended in the biggest settlement for aviation disaster victims in Asia.

Nonoy Pat has recovered today and serves as the family’s leader, especially in our decision making.

Nanay, on the other hand, has been bed-ridden since last year weakened by the incurable disease called “dementia.”

But true to her character, Nanay Pining fights on. Except for the fact that her memory has been erased by dementia and emaciated to the point that she could no longer stand on her own, doctors said her body is still strong.

Last night, when I visited Nanay in her sickbed and sang a birthday song for her, she suddenly muttered: “Sino ka?”

I told her who I was and kissed her gently on her forehead.

As I closed the door of her room to join my brothers, relatives and friends in celebrating her and Nonoy Pat’s birthday, I heard Nanay hum an old tune, one of the very memories deeply embedded in her brain.

This old tune is one of the very few things her damaged brain remembers, happy memories that not even dementia could erase.

(Photo caption: Col. Pat with his bike.)