ON learning about the worsening condition of the country’s former track star Lydia De Vega-Mercado through a social media post by her daughter, President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. has ordered the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to provide immediate assistance to the track-and-field legend Lydia who is now battling with cancer,
Based on the post by De Vega-Mercado’s daughter, volleyball standout Stephanie ‘Paneng’ Mercado-De Koenigswater, her mother “is in very critical condition’ and she is racing against time amid complications brought about by her Stage 4 Breast Cancer.
The sprint queen’s family is now asking the public for prayers and donations as the retired athlete once dubbed as Asia’s fastest woman continues to fight the disease that has rendered her bed-ridden in the past months.
“She was diagnosed (with breast cancer) in 2018 and has been silently fighting the disease for the past four years,” Mercado-De Koenigswarter said of her 57-year-old mom.
“As the disease is progressing, her condition is quickly worsening despite undergoing many procedures including brain surgery,” she added.
In reaction, President Marcos Jr. has instructed the PSC, through officer-in-charge Guillermo Iroy Jr., “to extend all help possible to support: to De Vega-Mercado “in her toughest race.”
