Here for the holidays despite Maria

Hurricane Maria had other plans for Puerto Rico grandma Luz Vega Negron.

Vega Negron, 75, was newly diagnosed with stomach cancer and set to have surgery when the massive storm hit Sept. 20.

Power and phone lines were down, hospitals struggled to handle emergencies on generator power, and there was virtually no way on or off the island.

In New York City, her son, Charlie Torres, was frantic.

“I saw the devastation on the news,” said Torres, 53. “I just kept thinking about my mother’s health — how I could get her here.”

Torres (above, with his mom), an admissions coordinator at Mount Sinai Medical Center on the Upper East Side, knew his mother was losing weight daily. But it took five days just to reach her by phone.

“When I could hear her voice for the first time, all I could do was cry. And she started crying. And we couldn’t speak,” Torres recalled. “Our tears were from joy. But I knew she was sick, and I needed to get her here.”

Two weeks went by with still no chance of flying Vega Negron out of Puerto Rico.

Then her mother — Torres’ grandmother — died in Chicago. Distraught, Vega Negron insisted that her mother be buried in Puerto Rico, in her native soil. “That took another two weeks,’’ Torres said. By the time Vega Negron — all 107 pounds of her — finally flew to New York, six agonizing weeks had passed. But her son’s hospital was waiting for her.

“We saw her first on Nov. 6,” said Vega Negron’s surgeon at Mount Sinai, Dr. Umut Sarpel. “We kind of had to start from scratch. We didn’t have records.”

Two repeat endoscopies revealed good news — she had very early, very treatable stomach cancer. On Dec. 11, she had surgery.

“She had about two-thirds of her stomach removed, and all the lymph nodes in the region,” which tested negative for cancer, Sarpel said.

“She ended up having Stage One, the earliest stage of stomach cancer, which was really quite remarkable given that there was such a long delay, and it really could have been much worse,” he said.

Torres, who is celebrating Christmas with his mother and his partner, Joe Rufa, 50, in their Putnam County home, said, “We are all thanking God.’’

Vega Negron must eat carefully, and can’t yet indulge in the traditional arroz con

gandules, rice and pigeon peas. But that’s a small price to pay.

“We know she’s going to be here not only for this Christmas,” said Torres, “but for many Christmases to come.”