I wasn’t able to see doc Thelma anymore. 12 years ago when I was in the emergency of Makati med, I was already confirmed to have multi drug resistant TB. . My doctor back then also confirmed that I will never see anymore. I remember just crying with my head to neck paralyzed, due to the muscle spasm on the back of my neck, after all of the paid 1st line medication and all of the other wrong diagnoses I went through. Someone touched my hand and I heard a warm voice, saying ‘I will now be your doctor’. I wasn’t able to talk due to the pain, and she just rubbed my shoulders comforting me. It was Doctor Thelma. I just trusted her that it will still be ok, even if I will never see the faces of my loved ones again. I took the 24 months treatment in TDF and experienced all of the side effects like vomiting everyday and nonstop headaches. After the 2 years of treatment and with all of the anti-depressants and sleeping pills done, the real depression kicks in. I was already planning ways of suicide, when my phone rang and doc Thelma told me ‘I want you to be a leader for the patients association’. This was the year I was still trying to join local disability associations, and learn the blind life. I told her ‘imp blind doc and I don’t know how to do leadership’. She just told me ‘you will be amazing’. I remember her telling me her story ‘I was also a TB patient myself and the TB patients like us needs to be heard’. I got hired by TDF for Community Strengthening, and it became a therapy for me to forget what I lost during and after the disease. I tried to follow her advises and I reported to her with the use of my talking laptop for the blind and phone, anything that I am able to accomplish. I remember her always hugging me and kissing me in my forehead, whenever she sees me in Makati med. She was like my mom in MMC, and TDF was like my family. I gained a career, new friends, and believed that I have a purpose again. She had the time to reply to me by email or text, until the suspension in Global Fund happened. I told her ill just try a Masters degree in Public Policy in the US. She told me ‘just continue being a change maker’. I got an internship in WHO and learned that TDF made a big impact in ending TB. I met doc Thelma’s international colleagues and I continued advocating for the disease. I started to get invitations to talk to the governments of Australia, I visited Capitol Hill in Washington DC, and I would just constantly report to her all of these experiences. She would still have the time to reply to me. Her words were ‘Good job Louie’, ‘Bravo’. When I was featured in an international magazine and a Manila Press Release happened in Intramuros, I learned she was in the room and I immediately looked for her and touched her hand. She sounded weak but her hand felt so happy to see me. One time I had to represent the TB community of Asia as a speaker for the Global Fund Advocates Network. I emailed doc about my plan of showing my treatment center, hoping she would be included in my life story video. I wasn’t able to get a response and I started to hear that she is having health conditions. But I was surprised that she even welcomed me and the international videographers in the facility of TDF. She toured us on all of the offices and she even helped me with putting on my mask. When we finished shooting, I remember I hugged her tight and I told her, ‘I love you doc, and will report to you more and make you proud’. The last time I talked to her, I was asking her about the plan we had for the Filipino TB community back in 2009. She told me ‘the plan has always been to create a national group to represent the needs of the affected community. It is going to be hard with the situation in our country, but individuals like you can definitely make a big change’. I’m just not ready for her passing, because I plan to still make her proud and make her happy. All I know now is I promise to her that will continue to be a leader and be a hero just like her. Again, I love you doc and I know that you will now be another angel of mine up there to guide me every step of the way.