Miriam says 90% of cancer cells have regressed

Just recently, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago wrote a letter to her fellow lawmakers — addressed to the Philippine Senate, through Senate President Franklin Drilon — to inform them about the state of her health.

Miriam’s limit: 2 hours

In the letter, Santiago said that 90% of the cancer cells in her left lung have regressed. However, she indicated that she is not yet ready to report to work at the Senate at the resumption of plenary sessions on Monday, October 20.

Santiago credits her continuous intake of the pill prescribed to her as an alternative to chemotherapy for over three months for the development.

She explained, “I am not yet physically fit to attend plenary sessions because of the characteristic debilitating fatigue that marks cancer. However, I have managed to discharge my duties as chair of certain Senate committees. In addition, I continue to file bills and resolutions on weekly basis. I have also managed to discharge some speaking obligations, on condition that the event will not last more than two hours, which is my physical limit at this time.”

Past diagnosis

In July this year, Santiago had announced in her usual straighforward fashion that she was battling cancer.

She had declared in a press conference, “Allow me to introduce myself to you as the only senator who has been diagnosed with lung cancer as of last week. I have cancer of the left lung which makes it hard for me to breathe. I don’t know what the reaction of my enemies will be, on what hand I might die, and that they could get rid of me, of I might survive and get rid of them.”

When asked if the diagnosis scared her, Santiago had replied, “No, I’m very excited. I said ‘Yes, I got cancer!’ Because now I’m entering another dimension of human life.”