UNMASKED: The Amazing Faith and Courage of a Fabulous Ausome Mom

If there's one person in my faith community that I can say is an epitome of faith and courage, it would be Sis. Eva Trabajo. I have already known her and her family for more than a decade now and I'm a witness to how she and her husband, Bro. Tacs, would rise through all the challenges together while serving as leaders of our Music Ministry.  The couple, along with their son Jolo, would faithfully serve as singers and musicians every week. And oftentimes, their other children would tag along during rehearsals. So seeing three young autistic adults innocently roaming inside our chapel had become a normal sight for me eventually. 

Sis. Eva and Bro. Tacs with their children Jolo (32), twins Trixie & Nikki (34), and Popoy (31).

Sis. Eva is considered as one of the OG members of the Light of Jesus Family. She and Bro. Tacs were already part of the community even when they were still single. They were already members when Bro. Bo Sanchez was only starting to preach. Naturally, they became the original Music Ministry members when The Feast was still starting at Camp Aguinaldo. I guess being in the community for decades have become a huge factor in shaping her faith and resilience amidst life's challenges.

 

One of my favorite photos of Sis. Eva is this which was shot during our Rizal Grand Feast in 2016. She served as our Music Ministry Coordinator.

When I told Sis. Eva that I was planning to write about her story for Write to Ignite Season 3, we were both excited. I believed that people outside our circle should know about her and how she manages to be a 24/7 mom to her 4 children (3 of which are on the autistic spectrum), be a devoted wife to Bro. Tacs, manage her household (she only has a stay-out helper), and fight her daily battles with polymyositis. 

Me and Sis. Eva at one of our Leaders' Council Christmas parties.

I miss her so much. It's been months since I last saw her personally and I badly wanted to meet her for this interview. But my busy work schedule did not permit us to meet on weekdays and she cannot go to church weekly now because of her condition. Thank God for technology, I was able to arrange a recorded voice call after the 2nd extension was announced. It was all God's grace, of course, that I'm finally writing her story for the world to see.

I only asked a few questions for the interview. However, our conversation took more than an hour kasi talagang madaldal kaming pareho, (we are both talkative) LOL! Our conversations are usually like  that, even longer on some instances. I really consider her as my spiritual mentor and my doting Ate who always lifts my spirits up by calling me, Mawe, Maweng Maganda! (Mauie The Beautiful!)

Meeting Her Pangga and Losing Dominic 

Before getting married, Sis. Eva was working as an HR Assistant at the Executive Services Department of a large Filipino beverage company. It was in the same company where she met Bro. Tacs (her Pangga or Visayan for Love) who was an IT Professional. She said she would regularly attend masses at the company's chapel where Bro. Tacs was the guitarist. After a year of dating, they got married, and raised a family. Both also became active members of the Light of Jesus Family's early group, the Catholic Alliance for Evangelization and Discipleship (CALLED). 

Not shortly after, Sis. Eva became pregnant with their first child but they received the bad news that the baby did not have a heartbeat. What's worse is that they had to wait for the baby to reach his 5th month before getting extracted out of her womb. They named the baby Dominic. I became teary-eyed when Sis. Eva was telling this part of her story especially when she said, "Di ba? Nagsi-serve ka sa Panginoon tapos ganoon ang mangyayari sa iyo? (You're serving right? Why is this happening to me?) She had so many questions in her young mind especially because it was a painful experience both physically and emotionally.

Nikki and Trixie

Three months after her miscarriage and against the advice of many to rest, Sis. Eva became pregnant again but this time, with twins. In the early months of her pregnancy, she asked God for a sign whether their twins were boys or girls. The sign she received was in the form of two red roses, placed on opposite sides of the chapel's altar.  They named the twins Anna Patricia (nicknamed Trixie) and Anna Monica (Nikki).

Sis. Eva said that she already noticed how the twins were delayed in terms of development when they were two years old. She said that she couldn't share her twins' milestones when workmates would exchange notes of how their babies were developing. It took a visit to the doctor to finally confirm that there was something different in terms of their behavior and development. Trixie got sick but did not want to be touched by the pediatrician when they brought her for a check-up. The doctor finally advised that they bring the twins to a developmental pediatrician to get an official diagnosis.

The twins were then diagnosed to be on the autism spectrum at around three years old. I guess during that time, research for autism was still in the early stages. In fact, at least two local universities contacted the couple and asked if they can observe the twins to study them. They did not allow them to. I understood Sis. Eva when she said that  she felt that the twins would only be treated as guinea pigs.  They also did not want to stress out the children with the procedures. For them, Nikki and Trixie are already fully accepted and loved regardless of their condition.

Currently, Sis. Eva and Bro. Tacs are hands-on in taking care of the twins. Sis. Eva gives them a bath and makes sure they are well-fed. She washes their undies and when they were younger, she would even cut their hair because they didn't want other people touching them. 

Jolo and Popoy

After the twins, the Trabajos were blessed boys. First was Jose Luis or Jolo, then after less than a year, Sis. Eva conceived again and gave birth to Juan Paolo or Popoy. Since she was already an Ausome Mom, she discovered early on that Popoy was also on the spectrum just be observing his behavior. 

At Jolo's college graduation.

Jolo was a quiet boy and fearing that he might also be on the spectrum, their doctor advised them to send him to school at two years old so that he would begin to socialize. He grew up to be a normal boy who, like his parents, also became an active servant of the community. Jolo became a youth leader while also serving as a singer and musician at The Feast Taytay. Today, he is a young professional in the sales and marketing industry and is also supporting the family as Bro. Tacs and Sis. Eva are already retired senior citizens.

I've always known Jolo to be a sweet son.

Meanwhile, Popoy is also a grown man. But unlike his sisters, he is functional, can somehow communicate, and follows instructions. I would always laugh at how he rummages through my bag when he sees it open just to look for chips or ask me money for his favorite fastfood treat, haha! He is such a sweet boy and we consider him as one of our Kids Ministry members at church.

Popoy loves fastfood, LOL!

Being a Strong Polymyositis Ausome Mom

In our prayer community, we believe that the more we serve, the more we are tested and this is obviously true for the Trabajo Family. In what I believe is a cruel twist of fate, Sis. Eva would end up being diagnosed with Polymyositis. According to John Hopkins Medicine, Polymyositis is a disease that causes muscles to become irritated and inflamed. The muscles eventually start to break down and become weak.

Sis. Eva now walks with a cane to help her balance.

What kind of joke is this, Life? That was my big question when I finally learned about Sis. Eva's condition. Why of all the people in the world, she would be the one to get such an illness. She needs to be physically strong for Trixie, Nikki, and Popoy. She needs strong muscles to take care of the twins, especially! Now she has to walk with a cane to help her balance. She has a difficult time stepping up and down the stairs or even getting up from a chair. She even fell once while in the bathroom and that caused a slipped disc injury.

The beautiful Trabajo Family during our community's 7th anniversary.

When I asked her how her condition affects her daily tasks at home she only said, sanay na ako humawak sa pader. (I'm used to holding on to the walls.) In one of our phone calls she said,  "Mawe, bugbog sarado ang hita ko kasi natumba ako." (Mauie, my hips are sore because I fell.) And I silently wept when I learned that she fell while doing the laundry. Yes, she still does the house chores because she only has one stay-out helper. I pray for her and the whole family every time because that's the only thing that I can do from a distance.

Magdasal at Bawal Pumangit

I asked her for some parting words for moms and fellow Ausome Moms. She only gave me two pieces of advice - magdasal and bawal pumangit (pray and take care of yourself). I laughed aloud after hearing these! 

Sis. Eva's rockin' her gray hair and pink dress.

The first advice, I kind of expected it. She really is a prayerful person. When I lose something, she always tells me to pray to St. Anthony. Or she tells me to pray a specific novena for a specific concern. But the second one got me really laughing my heart out! Bawal pumangit! Take care of yourself. Kahit anong problema ang dumating, 'wag pababayaan ang beauty! (No matter what kind of problems come, do not forget to take care of your beauty!) So now you know why I call her, Eva The Fab or Eva Fabulosa. Because she really is! 

She's the kind of person who will not surrender to life's struggles. She said that she always thinks that there's a reason why God gave her those challenges. She treats all her children as God-given blessings. She is strong and courageous. A true woman of faith. She is beautiful inside and out and I am honored and blessed to have gotten to know her in my lifetime. I hope you were also blessed by her story.

 

This story is an entry to COMCO Mundo’s “UNMASKED: The COMCO Mundo Write to Ignite Season 3”.  The initiative aims to pull and collate powerful stories from the Philippine blogging communities. “UNMASKED” aims to explore how each mask is a person brimming with hope and wonders to share with others, as well as why it is important to tell their inspiring journeys in life. The “Write to Ignite” Season 3 is made possible by COMCO Mundo League of Enterprises, with airasia, Babyflo, PHILUSA Corporation, Century Tuna, Licealiz, Lamoiyan Corporation, Rémy Martin, and Uratex Monoblock as brand partners.