Pia Jurado’s first born, Jhorex Jay Campaner, was born with bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate. While then 20-year-old first time mother could not hold her tears seeing her baby undergo surgery, she was filled with determination and hope that her son’s condition can be surgically corrected — they just need to find the resources to make it possible.
Pia’s common law partner, Alexis, is a construction worker earning just enough for their basic needs. To help their son, they desperately sought assistance from different organizations that could support them. But months of searching passed with no success. Until one day, an unexpected help cross their path—a netizen saw them after Jhorex’s check-up and posted Jhorex’s photo on Facebook to seek help online. That Facebook post reached Operation Blessing.
“Thank you, Lord, for using Operation Blessing for Jhorex to get the surgery he needed. I could not express how happy I am,” says Pia, eyes filled with tears of Joy.
Jhorex’s first surgery was done in 2019 when he was 8-month-old. He was then supposed to undergo a palatoplasty surgery to fix his cleft palate in March 2020, but the unexpected lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic delayed his second operation.
At 2 years old, Jhorex started to speak. There were words he could not properly pronounce, and his playmates started mimicking his speech. The innocent boy just laughs at his playmates’ imitation, but her mother’s heart is pained.
After more than a year of praying and waiting, Jhorex had successfully undergone palatoplasty surgery in partnership with the Tebow Cure Hospital. It was followed with sessions of speech therapies.
“Thank you for taking care of our little Jhorex. You helped him have a normal life,” says Pia.
Jhorex just turned 3 last January 2022, but he is starting to dream. He said he wants to be a policeman someday — a dream Pia said she would support and help her son to achieve.
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