Written by Femina Laya Canua, Writer, Operation Blessing Philippines

Growing old is terrifying. Your body gets weak and sickly; blood pressure goes up and down, intake of maintenance medicine becomes necessary. For some people, the most terrible thing in growing old is being left alone. But being left alone does not mean being lonely, just like with Nanay Anasaria.

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Nanay Anasaria loves sitting in front of her house, looking at the sea.

At the age of 80, Anasaria Corona is living alone in her classic traditional house in Barangay Corona, Tingloy Island. Her husband used to be a fisherman when he was still alive 10 years ago. Their only son, who now has his own family, lives in Mindoro.

Nanay Anasaria understands that his son has his own responsibility with his own family now.  Sometimes, he gives a sack of rice to Nanay Anasaria for her consumption. Sometimes, when there is lack, Nanay Anasaria turn to her neighbors for help, to survive for a day.

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The old woman showed her classic-traditional house to us.

Most of the time, Nanay Anasaria figures out what she could do to fill the hours of the day. To overcome her loneliness, she keeps herself busy with house chores. She also loves to sit in her front yard in the afternoons to watch the seawater and waves foam up as they break over the beach.

Nanay Anasaria used to weave sleeping mats and sell these in the community but, not until she was feeling weak due to old age.

When Operation Blessing Philippines met Nanay Anasaria at the medical mission, she wanted to have a checkup for her colds. When her turn came in, little did she know that she was in a hypertensive emergency; there was a spike in her blood pressure but since her body is already used to it, she could not tell it as it is.

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Nanay Anasaria at the registration area of Senior Citizens at the medical mission.

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A volunteer doctor checks on the blood pressure of Nanay Anasaria.

In the island, there is no doctor who does medical check up on people. Thankfully, she was given medical assistance and was able to take home maintenance medicines from this mission, in partnership with Good Neighbors, Inc.

Nanay Anasaria showed Operation Blessing how excited she was to have someone to talk to on that day. With her smiles, she has shown the staff and volunteers of OB how thankful she was, knowing that indeed, there are some people who truly care.

There are still many unreached places and people that don’t receive free quality healthcare that they need. Help us reach out to them them! Call 477-78-06 or visit us at www.obphil.com now, to know how you can help!