With what happened to her in 2020, a 14-year-old lass from Pilar, Bohol eagerly wants to find all ways possible to forget every single pain and “rain” she experienced from her ordeal in November 7 at 9:30 in the evening – the date and time she lost her two hands after getting allegedly hacked by her own stepfather. After the “downpour”, she now takes the cudgels for herself and tries to bounce back to normal life, as she struggles to “bloom” again and to look forward to a brighter tomorrow. With the help of generous benefactors, friends and relatives, she is able to live on faith, hope, and joy as she waits for the realization of her dream – to have her “hands” back – through prostheses. How much? How soon? How possible? Who will? These are questions with depths she could not even fathom as of the moment. The medical team accompanying THE BOHOL TRIBUNE editors who visited her on Dec. 30, 2020 only heard her shy voice expressing no hatred to anybody; and only saw all the tears rolling down her face that seemed to silently ask for help about her condition. This paper is running a series of her story entitled “After the rain, the flower blooms: The Mary Joy story”. Photo by Chester B. Impang
