 |
| Amy Sajor kept her illness to herself for months, saying she did not want to bother anyone with it |
An overseas Filipino worker who has for decades been
regarded as the mother figure of Sikap (or Samahang Nagkakaisa ng mga Pilipino)
passed away on June 9 from breast cancer. She was 62.
Amalia N. Sajor, widow of the late Rey Vital, founder
of the 40-year-old Sikap and one of its champion tennis players, was given a
final send-off by her friends and family members at Universal Funeral Home in
Hung Hom yesterday.
She left behind a son, Rayniel Vital, for whom she
and Rey fought hard to attain right of abode in Hong Kong, even while they
remained content being OFWs themselves.
 |
| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Amalia, who was Amy to most, battled stage 4 cancer for more
than a year, but true to form, preferred to keep her struggles and pain to
herself, like what Rey himself did when he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer
until his death in the Philippines three years ago.
Even Rayniel said her mother hardly spoke about her ailment
until she became too week to fight it off.
It was only after she was admitted to the Pamela
Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan last month that she confided to a
few close friends in Sikap about her struggle against the terminal disease.
 |
| Amy's Sikap family bids her farewell a day before her remains are due to be flown home |
Her friends and fellow tennis enthusiasts Almira, Melonie,
Sol, Marivic, Rose and Ruth took turns visiting her there, along with Rayniel,
until she took her last breath.
Her friends spoke of how devastated they were in seeing
how much weight Amy had lost, and how the cancer had left her with so much pain
which she valiantly decided to bear all by herself.
 |
| Basahin ang detalye! |
Lester Esquilona, current president of Sikap and a
longtime friend of Rey and Amy, also said he learned about her condition only
recently, although everyone had noticed her looking unusually sad for months,
including when she attended the group’s anniversary party in November last
year.
But when asked, Amy would inadvertently say she was
just longing for Rey.
 |
| Rey and Amy with son Rayniel during happier days |
Amy’s kindly employer, Serena, also said she was kept in the dark by Amy for months.
Just before he died, Rey reportedly told Amy to just
stay put in Pampanga and enjoy the house they had built there. But Amy insisted
on going back to Hong Kong and look after Serena’s elderly father, who had
hired her and Rey for decades.
The family patriarch passed on shortly before Amy learned
she had stage four cancer.
Serena is paying for the cost of repatriation, and
all related expenses. She said it is her way of repaying the kindness shown by
Amy toward her father, and for the decades of service that the Vital couple had
rendered to her family.
Amy’s remains are due to be flown home tomorrow,
June 24, to Santa Ana, Pampanga, where Rayniel said she will be laid to rest
beside his father, as was her wish.
.
