Hats off to a brave lady

MANILA, Philippines - Life has never been better for cancer survivor Rosalou Soriano Lamson. Her amigos and her family have noticed her youthful glow — as though she underwent a total makeover of body, mind and spirit.

Since losing her “crowning glory,” Rosalou found a new way to express her revived joie d’vivre: she wears hats for any and all occasions — from being a classic dresser, her fashion sense has exploded into bright colors, prints and textures and always with matching hats. She hasn’t gone as far as Tessa Prieto Valdes’ out-of-this-world hat statements but Rosalou certainly makes heads turn when she enters a room.

All throughout those long days and nights when her frail body struggled to stay alive, her spirits never failed her. She continued her mobile phone exchanges with select members of her family and friends who showered her with prayers and shows of support.

Never one to lose her sense of humor, she rose above the pain and the fear of losing her grip on the life she held so dear by believing that her Maker was just putting her to a test of faith.

When the good news came that the tempest was over, she went back to a more active social whirl to the delight of the people she loved.

A good friend teased her about her “new look” and commented that she “looks better now than before her treatments.” In trademark Rosalou, she retorted, “Inggit ka lang!”

Here is a woman who always treasures relationships, remembered birthdays and special occasions and as the Class ‘65 representative of the College of the Holy Spirit, she acts as the glue that keeps childhood friendships intact in their senior years.

“What are friends for but to cherish them? I wouldn’t have survived without knowing that they were just a text away,” she says.

Her hats are her daily testament to her renewed perspective of life.

“When strangers notice me wearing a hat they say, ’Poor woman. She must be sick.’ When my loved ones see me in a new hat they say, 'Wow.”