SUFFERING makes one beautiful only if he or she bears it with cheerfulness, not with insensibility, but through greatness of mind and purity of heart.

This must be the main reason Maria Kathrina “Kcat” Lopez Yarza, 26, has amiably endured the series of tests in her life.

On Friday, the 13th of May 1983, Kcat’s mother survived more than 10 hours of labor pains, until the doctor decided to perform a caesarian section. A cord coil had strangled Kcat, causing her heartbeat to slip to zero. She also had a mecomium stain. Fortunately, she was revived and was placed in an incubator for three days.

Kcat was a very sickly baby until she attended school. Her mother would always rush her to the emergency room due to different complaints such as difficulty in breathing, headaches and joint pains. She underwent numerous tests with different diagnoses—migraine, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, Bell’s palsy and thorasic dextroscoliosis with grade II on her right spine that was seen aggressively curving.

Braving all the medical challenges in her life, Kcat grew up to be a normal girl. Her physical defect did not affect her and she would even use it to entertain friends. What her family did not know was there were tumors in her brain that were causing her gradual health deterioration.

In August 2004, she was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NFS), a very rare genetic disease. Its main manifestation is seen with the development of symmetric, nonmalignant brain tumors in the region of cranial nerve VIII, which is the auditory-vestibular nerve that transmits sensory information from the inner ear to the brain. Patients with this illness also experience problems in their eyes. There is no therapy for the underlying disorder of cell function caused by the genetic mutation.

She underwent surgery in June 2005, but a month after that, started to suffer from the swelling of the treated tumors.

In October 2005, her family rushed her again to the hospital where surgery was performed on her. Five days after, her health started to weaken and she developed hospital-acquired pneumonia. Her swallowing got affected, her left extremities were paralyzed and her hearing started to deteriorate.

But God never left her during her sufferings. Kcat was supposed to undergo thoracic surgery for the insertion of a tube to drain out the pus in her lungs caused by pneumonia, but while she was already in the operating room, her doctor declined to proceed with the surgery, because—this is a miracle, her mother declared—the pus was already gone.

She had another surgery, though, for the insertion of a gastronomy tube as she could barely swallow fluids and solid foods. In January 2006, Kcat totally lost her hearing. She could not sleep and had hallucinations. In the Holy Week of 2006, her family brought her to a psychiatrist to help her calm down and gave her medicines to put her to sleep.

The Monday after Easter, Kcat woke up for breakfast and told her mother, “Mommy, we will get well. I will do everything that I can despite my disability. Everything has a reason. Life must go on.”

Her mother cried upon hearing that from her and thanked God for another miracle.

Kcat started to have her regular rehabilitation at the Philippine Orthopedic Center to regain her strength. She started practicing her artworks on the computer again and developed her skills to become a fine artist. Her family was very supportive and remained optimistic that she would hear again.

After almost two years of rehabilitation, she already regained some strength. Her facial muscles improved and she’s able to swallow solid foods.

When Kcat started researching in August 2007 about vertigo, she came across the auditory brainstream implant (ABI), a device designed to help NF2 patients hear again. She was up till 6 in the morning and broke the news to her mother. Her mother called Kcat’s neurosurgeon, who told her there was already one recipient of ABI done in the Philippines.

Following the doctor’s advice to research more and to meet the doctors who did the procedure, her mother got the correspondence of Dr. Derald Brackham, one of the principal authors of ABI. Brackham was honest enough to tell her mother that he could not extend medical assistance since the operation is too expensive in the US. Instead, he reviewed Kcat’s case for free and gave medical opinions. Part of his opinion was to have Kcat undergo a cochlear implant, a less invasive surgery.

She went through a series of hearing tests and, to her family’s surprise, the test was positive. She could recognize the electricity in her left ear—an indication that some auditory nerves were preserved and she could benefit from an implant.

Kcat started the hEAR campaign (help my EAR hear) because of her strong desire to hear the world again. She promised her parents they would not beg for money for her operation so she decided to sell shirts for a cause to raise funds for her implant.

She took a photo of her left ear as the design for the shirts. Her family started with 200 shirts and in just one week, they were sold out. Kcat’s campaign was seen by the media and became the subject of their stories.

Her family raised P1.5 million in five months. After two years of silence, her CI was switched on and she heard the world again. Thanks to her family’s faith, miracles do happen.

Deafness is only one of the complications that NF2 had caused Kcat. The paralysis of her left extremities, facial muscle problems, vision and tumor in her brain are still to be treated and monitored.

“We still have a long journey to face but we never lose hope, that is, through our faith in God that she will be healed. One at a time,” shares Madeleine Lopez-Yarza, Kcat’s loving mother and nominator.

Kcat believes life is short and she is enjoying it to the fullest. Helping others in her own little ways makes her happy and fulfilled. She always smiles, making everything goes on smoothly in her life. She shares her talent to others by teaching them what she learned as an artist.

She never questions God about what she is going through. She says, “Everything has a reason, and the reason is life.”