Tomas undergoes first chemo session

CEBU - The series of chemotherapy sessions has started for Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

Osmeña is undergoing chemotherapy due to a cancer in the urinary bladder.

Margot Osmeña, the mayor’s wife, in her text message to City Administrator Francisco Fernandez at 6:20 a.m. yesterday said that the mayor is having his first chemo treatment in a few hours.

“Tommy is having his first chemo treatment in a few hours. Please join us as we asked God to guide the people through whom His own healing hands work,” the text message read.

The message continued, “we also ask you to pray that we continue to hold tightly to God’s hands as Tommy takes his initial step towards being cured. Your prayers keep us strong and determined. We are truly blessed.”

The couple went back to the United States last Sunday so the mayor could undergo a series of chemotherapy treatment for about eight weeks.

Before the mayor left for the States, he said that he has not worried over things that he cannot control like his cancer as he does not like to live a life based on fear.

Osmeña was diagnosed to have a cancer in his urinary bladder and another lump was found in his lymph node but Margot said the lump is benign.

Margot, who kept a diary of all the medicine and procedure and even the medical staff who did the treatment on the mayor, said that the tumor that was found in the urinary bladder already shrunk from its original size that of a “fist”.

The purpose of the chemotherapy is to further shrink the tumor before the entire urinary bladder of the mayor will be removed.

The mayor had earlier said that he does not mind losing his hair after his chemotherapy sessions as it is of lesser importance than saving his own life. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)