A ‘Yolanda’ Love Story : Against All Odds From Montreal to Ormoc PhilippinesLove, it is said, can move mountains. It can also make one man fly fast towards his lady love in a jiffy, especially when she’s in grave danger.
Such is the story of 31-year-old Houssam Hammoudi, a Canadian engineer who traveled more than 8,000
miles from Montreal Canada to the storm-ravaged Philippines to look for his Filipina fiancee, Mary Grace Acojedo, age 22, who lives in Ormoc.
They had been in constant
communication through Skype and Facebook, and days before super typhoon Yolanda made its landfall on Nov. 8, Grace had been telling Houssam about the dreaded storm and how they need to prepare because Ormoc City was under storm signal number 4.
When Yolanda made landfall in Eastern Visayas, Houssam could no longer communicate with Grace as all communication lines in devastated areas went down. His uneasiness reached its peak when he saw news footage of the degree of Yolanda’s devastation. He was literally in shock with what he saw on television coverage.
He narrates,
“I know there was something bad that happened and it is a matter of life and death here.”Friends who knew about it chipped in fast after learning of his immediate plans to fly towards his lady love in Ormoc; even selling his car for $800 to help fund his emergency trip to the devastated region.
He was actually keen on coming over to see Grace in May and his flight was already booked.
But as fate would have it, he came six months earlier to be Grace’s saving angel.
On Nov. 13, Houssam hopped on a flight for Manila, then met up with Grace’s brother Nathaniel who works in Cebu.
They faced odds getting a ferry to take them to Ormoc. Fortunately, they were able to go on board a fast craft,reaching the Acojedo residence by early afternoon.
They found the house in ruins, and learned that Grace had been rushed by neighbors to a nearby clinic because the roof gave way and fell on her. Houssam found her girlfriend in terrible shape; she had a broken jaw, wrist and finger. She has deep cuts on her face and body which were in need of immediate surgery,including one that would save her leg from amputation.
It was the first time they met face to face and it wasn’t in the best of situations, but they both found comfort into each other’s arms.
Grace said,
“I did not expect him to look for me. I told my mother to tell him not to come over and just tell him that I was fine.”Her boyfriend was just too glad to find her alive. He immediately paid for her
medical bills and set about transferring her to a hospital for the badly-needed surgeries. No time to be wasted as infection, or worse, could set in. From the clinic, he carried her and walked 500
meters until they found a tricycle driver who helped them get to the pier.
In Cebu, Houssam took Mary Grace to a private hospital where she underwent further treatment. Her injuries were more than what met the eye and Hammoudi’s spending has reached close to half a million pesos for her medical care plus a series of surgeries. She has begun the long and arduous process of recovery
and Houssam’s efforts to raise more funds through a blog called
“Operation Saving Grace” has kept them afloat.
The scars on Grace’s face will probably remain,but on one of his replies to donors, Houssam said :
She is always beautiful to me. If you
see her with my own eyes you will see her always beautiful. The scars will go by time. I don’t mind them because I have the best girl on earth.”Their extraordinary story made it to the front page of Cebu Daily News.
They got engaged last Tuesday,November 19 and got married in the hospital last Saturday.
Grace says this of Houssam,
“He is my angel. Without him, I could not imagine what will happen to me in Ormoc.”For Houssam,
‘finding Grace was incredible lucky, and now she’s fighting for her life. I don’t know until now how I
made it out of Ormoc with her, I still cannot believe it. I realized that no matter what I could do, nothing would
have prepared me for this, it was more like special forces situation. If I waited only few days, she could lose her leg. In regards to my health, I am in good health, with less stress now, but my muscles hurt:) Thank you all for everything you did for me and hope that I
will not get surprises in the near future.’More than 700 people globally so far have extended help to
“Operation: Saving Grace.”
From
kickerdaily.com
