A Dream Realized : Son Defeats Red Tape to Fly From Manila for Reunion With Father Dying of Cancer

Monico Ordonez, expected to die of cancer within two weeks, realized his final dream Thursday in a tearful reunion with the son he had not seen in almost 10 years.

Ordonez, 73, was diagnosed as having liver cancer six weeks ago and had asked to see his son, Ferdinand, before he died. The son arrived in Orange County Thursday after the U.S. Embassy in Manila granted him a visa to see his dying father.

“I’m so happy to see my son. I now have all my family here,” said the elder Ordonez before breaking into tears in his private room at Chapman General Hospital in Orange.

The family of the small, frail man, who has been paralyzed on the left side since he suffered a stroke in 1970, had asked Quiet Dreams Inc., an Anaheim organization that tries to grant dying wishes to adult cancer victims, to arrange for his son to come to the United States.

Visa First Denied

The visa for Ferdinand Ordonez, 41, at first was denied by the embassy in Manila. But Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) was able to convince the State Department to issue him a visa. Pan American World Airways then flew him to Los Angeles free. He arrived Thursday afternoon after a 15-hour flight.

Father and son were reunited in a bittersweet embrace at the hospital.

“We cried and hugged. It was a very sad moment, but also a happy one. I’m glad I got to see my father,” Ferdinand Ordonez said.

The son said he would stay by his father’s side until “he gets well or he dies.”

Doctors say the odds are that the elder Ordonez will die soon. But he said he was “grateful to all the people who helped bring my son to see me.”

Ordonez’s son-in-law, Tony Mindo, who has lived with Ordonez in Irvine for the last year, said the cancer patient was released recently from Tustin Community Hospital after doctors determined they could not save his life. Ordonez then was admitted to Chapman General Hospital and will probably stay there until he dies, Mindo said.

‘Agony’ for the Family,

“It’s been an agony for the whole family,” Mindo said.

Ferdinand, who manages a small farm in Sanchez Mira, 300 miles north of Manila, said he last saw his father in the Philippines almost a decade ago. The family moved to Northern California 15 years ago after the father suffered the paralyzing stroke while working in Guam.

“I didn’t move here with my parents because I was already married when they moved,” said Ferdinand, who has three children.

The rest of Ordonez’s six children live in the United States, including three who are en route from Illinois to see their father.

Monico Ordonez’s wife, Teresa, was also present during Thursday’s reunion. The mother, wearing a white button with the words, “Ask me about Quiet Dreams,” also expressed gratitude for those who helped bring her son to the United States.

“I feel very happy because he saw his dying father,” she said.