When Randolph Francis Palomar recently went up the stage during his grade school graduation ceremony, it was not only to receive medals for his meritorious academic awards, but also to celebrate life.
Eight years ago, doctors said the Filipino teenager only had a week to live following acute liver failure, after undergoing second round of chemotherapy for brain cancer. A 6.8cm malignant tumour was lodged in the centre of his brain.
Randolph also caught pneumonia and had two seizures while in the intensive care unit (ICU). He stopped breathing and was not responding to oxygen. Several intravenous (IV) tubes were attached to his body, and all his parents could do was to pray for a miracle.
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Their prayers were answered. Randolph survived.
“I dreamed of God healing me and I never lost my will to live. I was surrounded by loving people and that gave me the boost to fight cancer. I went back to school after years of recuperating, and I even excelled in school,” said Randolph.
Randolph, who will be turning 19 next week (July 3), attended online classes and finished grade school at Shining Light Academy with high academic honours. He went up the stage with his parents during the graduation rites at Al Ajyal Theatre, Children’s City in Dubai to receive silver medal for finishing with a general average of 95-97%, and gold for distinctive character award. He also received citations for being best in Mathematics, English, campus journalism, social sciences, and Filipino language.
Randolph is now partially blind due to complications of cancer but he said “it did not blind my spirit to live”. Sometimes, he stutters when he speaks but he is always vivid in expressing his feelings and is constantly cheerful in sharing his success story as a brave cancer survivor.
“My life is a miracle,” he told Khaleej Times.
Lifetime treatment
There have been, however, several challenges he also had to face outside of his battle with cancer. He said because of his age (he is older than all his classmates) and medical condition, he also experienced some form of online bullying. “But it never bothered me and I learned to ignore their words and I remained focus on my studies to reach my goals,” he said.
“There is also the challenge that I have to visit the hospital every 12 weeks for continuous medical treatment. And we also face some financial difficulties that may hinder my high school studies,” he added.
“But I hope and pray that government charities will continue to help me for my medical treatment because my life depends on my medicines and they are very expensive,” he continued, adding: “I wish to study architecture or engineering in college.”
Randolph’s parents, Rod and Lyn, said they are thankful to everyone who supported them since 2016, when they made a public appeal for financial and moral support. Rod said they got invaluable support from Friends of Cancer Patients, Cancer Patient Care Society – Rahma, St Mary’s Catholic Church, as well as from other institutions and generous individuals.
“We are very proud that Randolph is always looking at life positively. He is not only a cancer survivor but also is an inspiration to teenagers like him,” Rod said. He also shared a message sent by Fr Lennie J.A. Connully, OFM Cap., parish priest at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, who said: “Randolph, we are all proud of you. Keep going with determination. You are a miracle boy. Continue to surprise everyone.”