Kim Chiu’s long search ends in ma’s death bed

Kim Chiu INQUIRER file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Actress Kim Chiu had been searching for her mother for years only to find her stuck in a lifeless coma.

Chiu, a Chinese-Filipino who lived in Cebu before moving to Manila to join the reality television show “Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition,” where she emerged winner, received a call last week informing her that her mom, Louella, was taken to a hospital here after slipping into a coma.

The actress immediately flew in and rushed to the hospital to see her mother. But last Sunday, after six days, Louella succumbed to brain aneurysm.

For six days, Kim would shuttle between Manila and Cebu to be with Louella, according to her father, William Chiu Jr.

“She would arrive at dawn and return to Manila in the morning for work and back again here in Cebu,” said William in Cebuano.

William said Kim would talk to her mother, who was in the hospital’s intensive care unit and begged her to get well.

“Once you are okay, I will bring you to Manila and stay in my house. You will take care of me there. So, get well soon,” William quoted Kim as having told her mother in Cebuano.

Refuting a blog

William made this revelation to refute an item published in a blog that said his daughter never cared for her mother.

He also said he and Kim were still doing some catching up since they just reunited after a five-year misunderstanding.

According to William, he and his wife separated when Kim, now 23, was still very young. The actress grew up with her paternal grandparents when Louella left their home.

When Louella’s legs started to fail and she could no longer walk, she asked the people taking care of her not to let her family know about her condition, William said.

She was due for surgery when two veins in her brain burst, causing her to go into a coma, he added.

Unable to pay for Louella’s medical expenses, her caretaker decided to seek the help of Kim and her family.

It was only then that Kim knew where to find her mother whom she had been looking for years.

Staying strong

William said it was hard for Kim to accept that the last days she spent with her mother was in the hospital. But William said her daughter was trying to stay strong for the family and for the people who had been supporting her all throughout.

On Wednesday, Kim and her sister Lakam left for Thailand for a commercial shoot.

William said Kim would try to convince the product owner and advertisers to let her come home to Cebu right after so she could still spend time with her mother, her father said.

William said they could not move the June 29 burial because according to feng shui experts, the interment should be set on that day. The next best day to bury her would be on July 5, he added.

Originally posted at 05:22 pm | Thursday, June 27, 2013