Michelle Dayrit-Soliven’s antidotes to the Big C

A couple of years ago, jeweler and Allure columnist Michelle Dayrit-Soliven gave her Assumption High School batch mates sexy, lacy T-backs in jewel colors during a batch Christmas party. In her trademark vivacious way, she said the T-backs would be her best gift to us that Season, because her own T-backs had saved her life. Seeing the quizzical looks on our faces (and since we had already started to get giddy with a glass of wine, or two), she explained: “You know, it was when I couldn’t use them anymore every day because of my unusually strong bleeding that I decided to see my gynecologist.” The doctor told Michelle she had endometrial cancer.

And so she was forever thankful to her sexy T-backs. That’s Michelle, she takes life seriously by making sure she doesn’t take it too seriously. Her message to us mid-lifers at the time was, “Go get an annual check-up” and her Post-its were in the form of racy T-backs.

Today, Michelle has been crowned one of the Makati Medical Center’s “happiest” patients. Five years after she licked her endometrial cancer, Michelle was diagnosed in January 2012 with stage 3B breast cancer.  While those close to her shed tears and expressed fears upon hearing the news, Michelle remained the strong one, never complaining or crying from the pain.

In fact, her “adopted” brother Büm D. Tenorio Jr. recalls only one time he saw Michelle cry. When she was told she couldn’t eat, because she had to undergo some tests. The Dayrits were then in Singapore and Michelle the foodie so wanted to feast with them!

Soon, doctors revealed that the tumor found beneath her breastbone had already spread. Michelle was then admitted to MakatiMed and went through the necessary treatments. “In the operating room, the doctors’ hands were light as feathers — I didn’t feel a thing and I felt so safe with them,” Michelle recalls. “I believed in my doctors and trusted they would make me better. I thank God for them.”

Michelle had to undergo mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. Her doctors decided to shrink the tumor first so it could be easily removed, and then perform reconstructive surgery with expanders and radiation. After three chemotherapy sessions, an MRI scan showed that the tumor shrank. Three more procedures followed through until the doctors could no longer find the tumor in the MRI, thus giving Michelle the all-clear.

When asked how she sailed through what could have been a turbulent journey, Michelle shares: “You can be sad or happy; you can choose to look good or bad. You can be in pain and act like it’s nothing — and your pain becomes nothing.” And yes, she chose to be positive; not to dwell on her pain, but to keep moving and celebrating the beauty of every moment.

Once, she told us that she was particularly grateful for one night when she couldn’t sleep (because of a discomfort she was feeling). Her wakefulness allowed her to see the shimmery moon, and the moonbeams that shone through her windows. And despite her discomfort, she uttered a prayer of praise, because she witnessed such a spectacle.

While Michelle has the MakatiMed team to thank for her physical recovery and care, it was her positivity and ability to find humor in situations that got her through her worst days. For instance, instead of feeling heartbroken over losing all her hair from the chemotherapy, she found herself amused when people started sending her all kinds of wigs.

“They gave me long hair, short hair, bob cut, blonde, red, black and brown wigs!” Michelle shares with a chuckle. “Not only that — they also offered prayers and sent over food, even Holy Water! I really had no time to worry or feel bad because I was having such a joyful time.”

Throughout her battle with cancer, Michelle tirelessly hosted outrageous chemotherapy parties at the pediatric ward of MakatiMed (“my cubicle was too small to accommodate all the guests, food and party paraphernalia!”), ate and enjoyed every meal she had, and embraced her condition wholeheartedly. “When you surrender your sickness, your problems and challenges to God, He’ll give you everything you need,” she attests.

To me, Michelle is an uttered prayer as well as an answered prayer. She is more than just cancer survivor because she more than just survives. She thrives. And she is offering her second lease on life as a platform so that others who are straining, tiptoeing to see the kindness and mercy of God can see Him more clearly.

Oncologist Gary Lorenzo says that whenever he sees his patient Michelle, he is “humbled.” A gifted doctor, he says he may have given the same treatment, the same medicine to several patients, but not everybody is blooming like Michelle. In short, he says it is not up to him and ultimately, credit goes to a Divine Healer.

“Trust in God, trust in your doctors, and trust in your attitude — these are the key elements to healing and recovery,” shares Michelle. “The combination of prayer, the right medical treatments, the positive attitude, the love of God, and the doctors’ skilled hands helped me overcome my sickness.”

With a grateful heart, Michelle celebrates the gift of a new year this Saturday. And we all celebrate the gift that is Michelle.

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)