Alejandro: “For me, that’s the explanation I’m alive—to have the ability to present and really feel that unconditional love that I by no means felt earlier than.”
Robert Alejandro, artist, trainer, advocate, TV character, brother, uncle, and pal, died on Nov. 5. He was 60.
His farewell message, posted on his Fb web page Kuya Robert’s Therapeutic Journey, displays the way in which he lived as he battled colon most cancers—full of affection and gratitude. “Hanggang sa muling pagkikita. Until we meet once more. A bientôt!” the caption learn.
The picture, which additionally seems in his memoir, exhibits him smiling, sporting his favourite shirt embroidered along with his art work. Round Alejandro are phrases in his colourful lettering, dotted with acquainted hearts and cute birds: “Maraming Salamat,” “God Bless You,” “I Am So Blessed By Your Friendship, “Thank You!”
Alejandro’s creative inclination was evident in his childhood, and he would go on to check and train tremendous arts on the College of the Philippines Diliman.
He was a TV reporter for “Probe Workforce,” host of the present “Artwork is Kool,” a youngsters’s e book illustrator, and resident designer at Papemelroti, which his dad and mom based and named after their youngsters. Robert is the “ro” in Papemelroti and, from 2019 to 2024, he was president of Korben Corp., the corporate behind the model.
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He was a founding member of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK) and the Communication Design Affiliation of the Philippines, and a volunteer designer for Museo ng Pag-Asa, Angat Buhay, PAWS, Wild Hen Membership of the Philippines, ATD Fourth World Philippines, Unicef, World Imaginative and prescient, and Habitat for Humanity.
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Alejandro was beneficiant along with his time and expertise—and most cancers didn’t change that. The prolific artist continued creating commissioned works, designing for Papemelroti, portray murals, and making a gift of his artwork without cost throughout the historic presidential marketing campaign of Leni Robredo.
‘My refuge’
“Artwork has at all times been my refuge, my protected place,” he advised Way of life in an interview.
And along with his enormous coronary heart, he helped others discover sanctuary in artwork as nicely. He shared his ardour for artwork by way of his TV present and workshops for kids in want, within the streets and even in cemeteries.
In the course of the pandemic, on the primary day of the lockdown, involved that children is likely to be scared about every thing that was occurring, he began giving free artwork workshops on-line. He did it day by day for a complete month. These workshops continued all through the pandemic, with Trainer Robert instructing 200 younger artists at a time.
He additionally tirelessly advised his story, in hopes that his therapeutic journey would encourage others.
In a 2021 interview with Way of life, Alejandro mentioned he was depressed and suicidal on the time of his most cancers analysis. After the physician broke the information, his first thought was, “Okay, I don’t have to kill myself as a result of I’m going to die.”
However after he was left alone in that hospital room, he stored pondering. “The little time I’ve left on this earth, okay, sufficient of this suicide, melancholy BS, sufficient of that. I advised myself, I’m going to like myself. As a result of I by no means beloved myself earlier than that.”
Wake-up name
He added, laughing, “Most cancers is an enormous wake-up name … Sabi ko, mamahalin ko na yung sarili ko 100%. I’m going to like myself and I’m going to stay one of the best years of my life. Nothing goes to cease me.”
Alejandro refused to endure chemotherapy, and selected to journey the world along with his longtime companion Jetro Rafael as an alternative.
Rafael, artist and chef behind the restaurant Van Gogh Is Bipolar, would spend the subsequent years caring for Alejandro, ensuring he was consuming nicely and introducing the Budwig protocol into his weight loss plan.
(The Budwig protocol, created within the Nineteen Fifties by German biochemist Johanna Budwig, is a weight loss plan plan that helps the therapy of most cancers. It includes consuming servings of flaxseed oil and cottage cheese together with fruits, greens, and fiber-rich meals whereas limiting the affected person’s consumption of refined and processed meals.)
It did wonders for Alejandro, serving to convey him again from being “at demise’s door,” and he and Rafael unfold the phrase about it.
“If it helped me, it could assist so many people who find themselves actually in dire want,” Alejandro mentioned. “It’s clearly a duty of mine to have the ability to share what now we have achieved and what we’re doing within the hopes that it would be capable to assist different individuals.”
They chronicled their journey and shared recipes on their Fb web page and in a e book, “Dwelling Meals: A Therapeutic Journey,” which was printed earlier this yr.
“Thanks for therapeutic us by way of your therapeutic. Mabuhay ka, Robert!” somebody posted on Fb.
Alejandro, beforehand a junk meals lover, grew to become an advocate of maintaining a healthy diet throughout his final years. He needed to take advantage of out of the time he had left.
Robert Alejandro’s farewell message was posted with the caption “Hanggang sa muling pagkikita. Until we meet once more. A bientôt!”
Unconditional love
He advised Way of life, “I’m so blessed to be pain-free in order that I’m in a position to do all these items which can be necessary to me. The best way I’m pondering now could be, ‘Okay, I’m going to do that, that is what I’m going to go away behind.’ I at all times have that in my head. ‘Okay, I’m going na, what’s going to I put my vitality into? With the little time, with the little vitality, what’s going to you do?’ So I’m working with the Fee on Human Rights, I’m doing one thing for breast most cancers, issues like that.”
Weight-reduction plan was one essential a part of Alejandro having the ability to stay past his prognosis. The opposite half was what he known as “unconditional love.”
“The truth that I used to be in a position to stay by way of this most cancers, that I used to be in a position to present my unconditional like to my sisters … I really feel their unconditional love for me and even Jetro. So I actually really feel that that’s even a larger therapeutic for me, even greater than this bodily therapeutic of most cancers. For me that’s the explanation I’m alive—to have the ability to present and really feel that unconditional love that I by no means felt earlier than.”
Round Christmas final yr, he echoed the identical sentiment in one other interview with Way of life. “I’m blessed to know that the truest treasures are family and friends that present unconditional love.”
Those that had the pleasure of attending to know Robert acquired the reward of basking in his lovely vitality. He was actually particular. His pleasure, zest for all times, and gratitude had been—are—infectious. “Each second now, I’m so grateful to be alive,” he mentioned.
He acquired emotional throughout our interview in 2021. “I do know I’m speculated to be useless or in such nice ache, however I’m not. So, I’m humbled, and I’m so grateful to be on this state, to be alive, to be speaking to you now. To listen to the thunder and lightning. To have the ability to inform my sisters that I really like them a lot, to inform my pals that I really like them a lot. I’m simply so grateful.”
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A lot has been mentioned about his “defiant optimism” however, he admitted, “I’m not constructive on a regular basis. That’s one factor additionally you must admit to your self—you can’t be constructive on a regular basis, there are ups and downs. So that you settle for that and know that it’ll cross. Fall asleep, take a pleasant tub. For me, the mortality actually says, ‘O ano, magmumukmok ka pa ba?’ Huwag na. Tama na.”
That Alejandro was prepared to speak about mortality and demise in such a matter-of-fact approach was refreshing. In a submit about an upcoming exhibit, he inspired individuals to purchase his artwork, joking, “Bili kayo. Artwork often appreciates in worth when the artist passes away.”
Many individuals are mourning the lack of Alejandro—and what an enormous loss it’s.
However he’ll stay on—in his artwork, in his Papemelroti designs, within the budding artists whose ardour he ignited, within the sufferers and their carers impressed to maintain up the combat, within the many, many individuals who love him, within the numerous lives he’s touched. He gave the world a lot.
These he has left behind can discover consolation in the truth that he knew and felt simply how beloved he was—and he was grateful for it. For years, Alejandro was flooded with messages of affection and encouragement from each strangers and folks he knew. Even throughout Fb stay classes, he needed to preserve pausing to say hello and reply to individuals who had been expressing how a lot he meant to them. “I really like you,” he stored saying, blowing them kisses by way of the display.
Throughout one Fb stay, he reminded everybody, “Please worth the life that’s given to you. Get pleasure from life to the fullest.”
We requested him: How does it really feel to be beloved by so many individuals?
He replied, smiling, “My pal Gilda Cordero-Fernando, earlier than she handed, gumawa na siya ng kanyang wake. So sabi ko, ito na ‘yun, ito na ‘yung wake ko. I can learn all these messages of affection and kindness. I’m so grateful to all people.”