Q and A with Mary from Manila, Philippines



“The world made me feel that I didn’t belong here, but it doesn’t mean that I should stop dreaming.”

Q: What are you passionate about? 

A: I am passionate about helping people, especially women who struggle with their emotions. Being born with cancer and growing up with it, I was exposed to different negative emotions, and that’s how I ended up studying psychology. Now, I am working as an internationally certified emotional and mindset coach, where I am helping people who struggle with constant burnout and emotional fatigue in their business and personal life using a proven system to create their ultimate breakthrough.

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: Well, I’m not like other kids, who had a normal life. Growing up with cancer since birth made me feel like I did not belong here on earth. It made me feel like a limited person. I felt awful in my younger mind. I remember I kept asking, “Why me?” As a child, living in pain made me feel like a limited child. Everyone around me was living normally and that made me feel like I did not belong. I spent most of my childhood in my bed or sometimes in the hospital. I was born with leukemia and spent my first three years in the hospital, trying to survive. The local government helped support my parents with all my medical needs and treatments since I was born. My parents were simple farmers. Since I came from a poor family, my parents could not support my needs, but they were determined to help me.

Since I was a kid, I really loved reading, especially about different countries, and their cultures and history. I have always loved learning new things and dreaming big. Despite constantly fighting with death, I kept dreaming. I remember when I was in grade school, one of my teachers asked me, “Why do you want to come to school every day?” and I remember I said, “I might die soon, so I want to go to school every day because I don’t want to die with my dreams.” I remember I used to dream about traveling around the globe. This has since happened in my adult life.

When I was a teenager, I loved to read fiction and self-discovery books. I was moved up a year in high school, which made me start college earlier than others my age. Then after high school, I told myself that cancer may start the fight, but I will not let cancer decide how to end my story. I see my pain as a motivation to live. The world made me feel that I didn’t belong here, but it doesn’t mean that I should stop dreaming. I remember that I told myself when I was 15, the pain that I had since birth, the struggles I had, and the fear of death that I had, are all the thoughts of someone who also secretly fights with life. I want to create a world for me and other cancer patients and make them realize that cancer might choose us, but we are not our cancer. It may create and change our story, but we are still the author of our own story, and we determine how to create the end part. Yes, we have cancer, and that made us stronger than we thought. And that mindset is still with me.

Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?

A: Your story can be your most powerful tool. Everyone has their own fight, whether chronic diseases or not, personal or not personal, all of us have our own fight. If I have a chance to help you, that would be to teach you how to win your fight and turn it into a breakthrough. I have won five times against cancer, and I know cancer can start the fight again, but definitely, I’m the one who’s gonna end the fight.

Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: For me, feminism means being equal. We used to think that feminism was being submissive or ruled by men. For me, feminism means you can do anything you want as long as you believe that you can do it. Feminism means empowering the world and influencing the world the way men do it. To create an impact in people’s lives the way men do it.

MORE ABOUT MARY: I am so grateful to meet different people from different places, and I am so grateful to be part of this amazing group where I have a chance to contribute my skills and expertise in terms of emotional stress. Like you, everyone gets stressed, and your emotions and feelings are valid, authentic, and REAL.

Thank you for reading!

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