For DJ Chloe of 96.3 Easy Rock, it was a matter of life and death.
Two years ago, her daughter Bianca, then 12 years old, felt really sick and had to be brought to the hospital. With her blood sugar level rising to 600, she was pronounced critical and immediately taken to the children’s intensive care unit. The doctor said that a slight delay in medical attention could have put her into a coma.
“It was like bullet time for me. Everything froze. And the thought of just looking at your child and not being able to do anything, when she's asking for help and you can’t do anything because you yourself can’t understand what's happening is dreadful! I had a face-to-face encounter with losing someone I love dearly, and I felt like I could just give anything to see her normal and healthy and playing again,” Chloe recalls.
Bianca was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes or Type 1 Diabetes, a genetic disorder. On their third day in the hospital, still waiting for her daughter’s blood sugar level to stabilize below 300 so that they can go home, Chloe made her drink Malungai Life Oil, a pure moringa oleifera extract that she herself has been taking. Knowing its potency, Chloe did not hesitate to give her daughter two capsules. Amazingly, with thorough medical attention, her daughter’s blood sugar stabilized at 283 and they were allowed to leave the hospital. She is currently taking insulin regularly and Life Oil as her food supplement. So does Chloe.
Chloe, Beatriz Oranga in real life, does not think of her daughter as “sick.”
“If we think of her as ‘sick,’ it’s like debilitating . If you look at her, she is normal like other kids, it’s just that she has a condition. It’s something you wouldn’t wish to happen to you and you wouldn’t even think would happen to you. I always have to be on my toes, I have to learn what it is so I can take care of her to the best of my ability as a mother/parent,” Chloe shares.
Managing Bianca’s condition required Chloe to study about Type 1 diabetes and what to do with it. She makes sure her blood sugar (cbg) and hba1c (blood glucose activity of a person in three months) are both controlled and kept as close to normal. She injects her insulin at specific times and makes her eat at specific times. She prepares her meals consisting of vegetables and complex carbohydrates. She encourages her to exercise daily. She feels for her when she couldn’t eat ice cream, cake, pizza, and all the good and sinful desserts we love to eat.
But all of these seemingly arduous tasks are nothing compared to what Chloe has gone through being a single parent to two daughters.
“If we talk about the difficulties of a single parent, we might run out of page,” she jokes. “I do things alone, I provide. I take care of and ‘parent’ them alone! Well, at least I get to own the credits alone. It’s not at all easy, and it is this reality that made me believe that women are made to multitask,” she adds.
But Chloe never gave up, believing that God will always see her through.
“Giving up on your children should never be on a parent’s vocabulary,” Chloe attests.
Seeing her daughters grow up right in front of her, and knowing for a fact that by God’s grace and provision, she was able to provide them the best, these are Chloe’s fulfillment as a single mom.
Careen who is turning 21 this year, works as a merchandising assistant in one of the biggest companies in the Philippines. A graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University, she was a consistent Dean’s Lister. She is the “girly” type even when she was little. She loves Barbies and everything pink, skirts, ruffles and ribbons. Bianca will be 14 years old and will be in grade 8 this school year. She is the athletic type, the person who wants to put her hands on everything at the same time. She loves sports, guns, and adventure like rappelling and Bungee jumping. They are Chloe’s pride and happiness.
She teaches her daughters how to be responsible for themselves through example.
“But they still need to learn more! I believe it’s more of showing them how to be responsible, rather than teach them or tell them to be responsible,” Chloe says, adding that both her daughters are independent and strong-willed like her.
Chloe has done a good job raising two beautiful daughters, but even with all that she has gone through, she knows she is just starting in her journey as a parent. Everyday is a learning experience for her, and she treasures every moment as a mother.
“I teach them to do what they love to do and love what they do. When they get to be professionals, to love their jobs so it will love them back. I teach them to always say thank you and please,” Chloe ends.
She is one mom who rocks. Maong Mama!
