Her story

WHEN I first knew Candice Grace Cabras as an undergraduate student in my Journalism class at the St. Theresa’s College in Cebu City, she was already a “woman of substance”.

This phrase was the title of a romantic potboiler about a woman’s hardscrabble transition from poverty to wealth and power. The protagonist relied on melodrama’s conventions of “feminine” strength: physical beauty and sexual wiles.

Candice was a personable young woman then but it wasn’t just her ready smile and ebullient personality that stood out among many uniquely striking, passionate young Theresians.

When Candice’s father returned after a long absence, sickly and needy, Candice, her mother, and siblings accepted him without question. Candice voluntarily donated one of her kidneys to her father, which enabled him to enjoy life until his passing not too long ago.

In that bestselling novel, “substance” was equated with material possessions and worldly power. Candice’s gift to her father—and her lifelong adjustment to the challenges of living with only one remaining kidney—seemed to me of an essence eluding writers of romances and philosophy: what truly is love?

That question was partly answered when I read a SunStar Cebu Mar. 12, 2015 article by Michelle P. So about Candice’s participation in the 50-kilometer All-Women Ultra Marathon (Awum).

Two hours after the 10-hour cutoff, the last runner to cross the finish line, Candice fulfilled her “dream”: to finish the Awum. As So wrote, “Unlike the runners before her, there were no drum beaters to announce her approach”.

There were plenty of tears, though, from the small group of believers watching Candice take “one slow and painful step after another”: her mates at the Talisay City Runners Club (TCRC), the Awum organizers who waited for each runner to finish the “life event,” and Jerry Maque, husband of Candice and partner in raising their three children.

It was no small feat for Candice: “She's 31 years old, 5 foot three, and 250 pounds,” wrote So in the SunStar Cebu article.

Love and grit. When I recently embraced this deep wellspring of empathy and strength, Candice had marked another “life event”.

In 2017, she published “Life with JJ: Lessons from a Special Mom”. JJ is Candice and Jerry’s seven-year-old son with Down Syndrome, brother of Miguela Louise and Ezekiel.

As Candice writes in Lesson 11, “Education is Liberation”: “We have to educate the world that we are not sorry for our children… They can soar greater heights and like any of us, they deserve a special space in this world.”

One of the joys of being a teacher is being inspired by our students. Salamat kaayo for being among the best mentors, Candice.



(mayette.tabada@gmail.com/ 09173226131)

*First published in SunStar Cebu on the January 6, 2019 issue of the Sunday editorial-page column, “Matamata”