Hong Kong domestic helper’s breast cancer spreads to her brain. She wants to spend time with her children in the Philippines. Friends raise funds to send her home
- Elma Palitayan dela Cruz was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, and it spread to her brain. She recently underwent brain surgery to save the sight in an eye
- Doctors have given her three years to live. Friends are raising money to help her go home to her children in the Philippines
In 2018, Filipino Elma Palitayan dela Cruz arrived in Hong Kong, one of the thousands of overseas foreign workers who head to the city to make money so they can provide for their families back home.
But after two years of working as a domestic helper the mother of two was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.
Dela Cruz underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy and earlier this year had her left breast removed. Mastectomies are carried out to prevent the spread or development of the cancer.
In dela Cruz’s case, it was too late. The cancer had spread to her brain – and was stage 4. On August 27, the 39-year-old underwent surgery for a brain tumour that had also caused partial blindness in one eye.
Without the surgery, doctors told her she would have only a few months to live. With it, she could live for another three years.
