Tomas stays cancerfree
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has stayed cancer-free for nine years now, according to the results of his latest medical checkup in the United States.
“Atong ipahibawo sa tanan nga ang hospital ni-declare ni mayor nga cancer-free. Ang significance ani is for the past nine years, kalooy sa Diyos, cancer-free siya,” Francisco Fernandez, the mayor’s executive assistant, told reporters yesterday.
Fernandez said he learned the news from a text message he received from Osmeña, who recently went through a series of tests at the M. D. Andersons Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
Osmeña was the city mayor when he was diagnosed with stage 4 urinary bladder cancer in 2008. Despite this, he managed to finish his term in 2010.
His wife, City Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña, earlier said doctors took out her husband’s bladder, prostate, and 42 lymph nodes.
In 2009, Osmeña was asked to submit himself for a regular checkup every three months. It lasted until 2010.
A year after that, the mayor was then asked to come back for an annual medical checkup, and more recently, doctors have required him to show up for checkup once every year and a half.
Osmeña himself disclosed his cancer-free status through a post on his official Facebook page.
“My doctor just told me that the scans have shown there is no trace of cancer in my body. This marks the 9th year since I’ve been declared cancer-free,” read the mayor’s post shortly before midnight Thursday.
The post got 6,300 reactions and 125 shares as of 5:15 p.m. yesterday.
Netizens and officials were quick to congratulate the mayor, among them City Councilor Sisinio Andales, who said he was happy that the leader of Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan is “fit and healthy.”
Andales said the mayor can continue working and do public service, especially that he has remained cancer-free for several years already.
Osmeña and his family, who also spent their Christmas vacation in the US, are expected to arrive in the city today.