Cathy Babao and her mom, veteran actress Caridad Sanchez. Image: Instagram/@cathybabao
Cathy Babao, daughter of veteran actress Caridad Sanchez, admitted she was on the verge of tears after her mom, who suffers from dementia and often thinks of her as a sister or a best friend, gave her a very tight hug and called her “love.”
Cathy, a grief counselor, narrated through her Instagram page the “unusual welcome” she received from her mom on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 13. According to Cathy, Sanchez pulled her close, hugged her very tight then held her “for what felt like an eternity.”
Cathy admitted that her mom’s actions somehow “scared” her, but she considered it as Sanchez’s way of expressing joy after seeing her daughter.
“Sometimes mom thinks we are sisters, or that I’m her best friend. Occasionally, I’m still her daughter and she will call me by my childhood nickname, Kate,” Cathy said. “I’ve always said that in the dementia journey, it is only the mind that malfunctions but never the heart.”
While enjoying their lunch, Cathy went on to ask her mom a question that she asks her every so often to help jog the screen icon’s memory: “What are we? Who am I to you?”
“She looked me straight in the eye, in between bites of her favorite JT’s inasal, she replied, ‘Love. You are love. I love you very much,'” Cathy recalled. “I got so choked up. It was an answer that I did not expect. I held back my tears and said, ‘I love you too, mom.'”
“The journey of loving and caring for a parent or a loved one with dementia is never easy. There’s a reason why it’s called the long goodbye,” she continued. “I believe that God in His infinite wisdom and goodness, grants us grace filled moments to soothe the heart to help us carry on.”
Cathy’s post was greeted with admiration by fans and fellow celebrities who admitted getting emotional as well over the mother and daughter’s story.
Image: Instagram/@cathybabao
Image: Instagram/@cathybabao
Image: Instagram/@cathybabao
Sanchez’s dementia diagnosis was first made public by Cathy through a blog in 2020. This revelation was initially refuted by the veteran actress’ son, Alexander Joseph Babao, who claimed that Sanchez had a “mild cognitive handicap” and not dementia.
In response to Alexander, Cathy stressed that her mom would not want to hide her condition and noted that “there’s nothing shameful about admitting that a loved one has dementia.”
Sanchez got her break through the legendary LVN Pictures with the 1958 film “Malvarosa” and has had a decades-long career in movies and television. Nineties kids would know her as Lola in the educational series “Bayani,” which ran from 1995 to 2000. /ra