Normally I try to spend as little time in Manila as possible, but this weekend I spent a really nice 3 days there. I got back from Macau and wanted to visit John Mark, one of the Stairway kids, who was recovering in the hospital from jaw surgery. Annie was acting as his caretaker, and I figured it would be nice to see how he was doing and also to talk to a friend after having been traveling alone for the past week. I was only going to spend a day or so there, but I ended up staying with them until we all came back to Stairway together.
The first day I was with them in the hospital, the Deaf students who had visited Stairway for Deaf Camp few months ago came to visit John Mark. He had made friends with many of them while they were at Stairway, and was able to quickly learn and remember a lot of sign language. They came to wish him a belated happy birthday and a quick recovery. It was one of the most touching moments I have experienced so far this summer. Seeing him signing with them was incredible. I knew he could sign pretty well because I had signed with him before at Stairway when I saw him practicing. (I took a sign language class last year at Elon and LOVED it, and I actually remember a lot of it). But to see him signing with these students was great. I really want to learn and practice more as well, because I was shocked at how much I could remember myself. They signed in American Sign Language, so it was awesome to know the same version and to be able to communicate somewhat complex ideas and have real conversations. Thanks to Terry, my ASL professor for being such an AWESOME teacher!
The next day, we were visited by Annie’s Tita and cousins who live in Quezon City. I taught them No Guts No Glory and as always, that was a hit. We were supposed to take John Mark and his roommate, another boy unaffiliated with Stairway called Aljay, to the mall. However, because of the rain and other circumstances deemed comically “unsafe” by one of their elderly, yet incredible, doctors, we went on Monday instead.
It was really great to be able to get to know John Mark better during all of this. He is such an awesome, resilient, inspiring kid. His energy is contagious, he loves to sing, and he loves to joke around. His favorite song this weekend was "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles. His recovery has been remarkable and he has been so helpful in the recovery of his friend Aljay, encouraging him to take his medicine when he doesn't want to, encouraging him to eat, and to do is physical therapy exercises. I am so happy that John Mark was able to receive this surgery because now he will be able to eat properly and become healthier. I couldn't think of a kid who deserves it more.
