The mountain took her family. Now she is fighting to save the hospital that saved her.

Résumé détaillé

At 12, Carol Abayao survived a landslide that killed four members of her family. Twenty-eight years later, she is the only full-time doctor at the mission hospital that first treated her injuries, carrying the weight of keeping medical care within reach of Banaue's mountain communities.

MISSION. The present-day Good News Clinic and Hospital in Banaue, Ifugao. Nearly 70 years after its founding, the nonprofit Christian mission hospital remains the municipality’s only hospital, providing essential medical services despite staffing and financial challenges.

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BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – On the morning of October 15, 1998, in the mountain town of Banaue, Ifugao, 12-year-old Carol Abayao was asleep when the mountain came crashing into her family’s home.

A landslide triggered by heavy rains buried the house in mud and earth. Her mother, two brothers, and maternal grandmother were killed.

Another brother, who happened to be outside, escaped the disaster. Carol, trapped inside, has little memory of how long she remained beneath the debris before rescuers found her.

She remembers the mud, the confusion, and the strange sensation of waking from what seemed like a dream.

She was taken to Good News Clinic and Hospital, a small Christian mission hospital in Banaue, where surgeon Dr. Antonio Ligot attended to her injuries. She was later transferred to another facility for further treatment.

Her recovery was long. She needed assistance moving around and spent time in a wheelchair before she could walk again.

For some time, Carol believed that the rest of her family might also have survived. The adults caring for her struggled to tell her otherwise.

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