Sinfroniano Sator

March 27, 2003, exactly five o’clock in the morning, I was rushed to the Cebu Doctors Hospital for confinement due to high blood pressure. It was 180/120.

The following day, I noticed that I could not move the left side of my body. I had no choice but to accept the fact that my body became half-paralyzed.

Walking and other daily activities became such a feat thereafter. I had to undergo physical therapy to cope up. It took me seven grueling months to recover. And then, the unfortunate happened.

My wife got stroke too due to heart failure. She was rushed to the Cebu Doctors Hospital. But it was too late; she was already in a coma. That was the moment when my world started crumbling. I was scared to lose her. I love her so much. With our hospital bills piling up, we had no choice but to go home.

A month later, my wife died. That was March 27, 2004, exactly one year after I got half-paralyzed.

Those trying times, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for myself. My breath seemed to stop everytime I remembered the promissory note I signed to pay for our hospital bills in three months’ time. A day after my wife’s burial, I was still at a loss on how I was going to resolve our debts considering my own physical incapacity.

That day, a fellow teacher at the Guidance Office opened the drawer of my wife’s table. There she found documents of my wife’s insurance plan with Philam Life which stated that my two children and I as her beneficiaries.

We presented all the documents to Philam Life’s Cebu Branch. A week after, all three of us received a sum of P40,000 each, totaling to P120,000. I was able to pay 75% of my hospital bills. It felt as if it were a miracle. Had it not been for my wife’s insurance, I could have probably ended up dead just thinking how financially drained I was.

Now my daughter, Samantha, enjoys her contingent education benefits. I can never thank Philam Life enough for what it has done for my family. Now, I’m on my way to my full recovery!