Written By Femina Laya Canua, Writer, Operation Blessing Philippines

There were many reasons for Christina Mamalias’ goiter operation to get postponed three times.

The 32-year old homekeeper and her husband, Hospecio, adopted five kids. They have no biological children.

Christina grew up in a “broken family” and learned to live independently. She became responsible for her younger siblings and took care of their needs. Christina even worked as a domestic helper in Singapore, and there she experienced being treated badly by her rude employer.

Even before she went to Singapore in 2006, she already noticed a bump on her thyroid and was prescribed medicine as treatment. After a year overseas, Christina noticed that her goiter got bigger. It was very disturbing for her because she was not able to work properly. Since then she decided to go home.

In 2009, she and Hospecio got married and they took over in caring for her youngest brother who is a special child.

The couple later adopted four more children from her sister who could not afford to provide for them. Christina also shared that she is very grateful to her husband who understands and supports her in all that she does, especially in taking care of the kids. They help each other to support the needs of their family.

Christina is also seen by others as a woman with a heart for missions. She loves engaging herself in developing their community by volunteering with water, sanitation and infrastructure projects. They have no source of potable water, and so they have to buy from a nearby poultry everyday for two pesos ($0.04) per five gallons.

With all these on her plate, Christina kept postponing her surgery. Christina admitted that she was hesitant to get an operation because of the worries of who will take care of her kids, especially the one with autism. She was also concerned about leaving unfinished work in their community.

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Christina, before her goiter operation in Cebu.

Christina said that she was able to save some money for an operation. But because she and her husband adopted these kids, she decided to cancel her surgery to support them. Her family saw Christina’s heart for the kids, and so her father took over the responsibility with the child with autism. Meanwhile, the other four were returned to their biological parents so that she could proceed with her surgery.

Christina, whose saved up money was spent for the needs of her adopted kids, was endorsed for the Tulong sa Kapwa: Cebu Surgical Mission 2016 of Operation Blessing and the Philippine-American Association of Connecticut (PAAC).

“Everything really happens for a reason,” Christina said. “Without all these things that happened, I would not be able to meet Operation Blessing and get the free surgery,” a smiling Christina ended.