- Mom told son to ‘go ahead’ with wedding after heart attack
- Family says their feisty mother hid her health problems
An Australian couple is trying to raise money for surgery for a mother who suffered a heart attack at her son’s wedding.
Danline Faye Canutal and her boyfriend Gian Biduare traveled to the Philippines from Australia to celebrate their wedding with their family in 2022.
However, the festivities took a dramatic turn when Biduare’s 59-year-old mother, Joy, began coughing and clenching her fists. 7News reported.
Despite protests from the family, Joy tried to insist that her son and the bride go ahead with the wedding.
“I’m fine, you guys go ahead… it’s your wedding day,” he told them.
Eventually, her family convinced her to go to the hospital, where doctors informed ‘Mama Joy’ that she was having a heart attack.
Joy was told she had three different heart valves damaged and needed angioplasty to open her blocked arteries, a surgery that would reportedly cost $25,000.
Ms Faye Cunatal revealed that financial constraints had prevented the mother from receiving the surgery at the time.
Gian Biduare’s mother (left) and (right) suffered a heart attack during her son’s wedding celebrations.
‘Mama Joy’ now faces serious complications after having to delay costly surgeries to save her life
She continued to battle her problems in silence when the couple returned to New South Wales as newlyweds, despite her body “shutting down”.
His family says his condition has worsened in the years since and he is in desperate need of surgery.
“Since then, Mama Joy has not been the same. We are slowly losing our happy and motivated mom,” Faye Cunatal wrote in a GoFundMe.
“You can see in her eyes that she is really worried even if she doesn’t tell us.”
The financial burden has fallen on Mr. Biduare as he is the eldest brother and cannot get support from his brother.
Joy is at risk of another, possibly fatal, heart attack if she does not have an angiogram and possibly three stents placed in her heart.
The stents could cost $13,000 each.
Although Joy is a Filipino citizen and has health insurance, the family says it would only cover five to ten percent of the cost.
“I am appealing to your good hearts to help us with the much needed procedure for Mama Joy,” said Mrs Faye Cunatal.