HappeningPH Special! The Power of a Wish: Yunix’s Fight to Rise Like a Phoenix

For decades, the fight against childhood cancer in the Philippines was a losing battle, with survival rates falling below 20%. Today, that grim statistic has been dramatically reversed, rising to an inspiring 78%, thanks to national campaigns that ensured earlier diagnosis, reduced treatment abandonment, and accessible chemotherapy for less financially capable patients. (Lecciones, 2015)

Children are winning—and Yunix Ashteen Andrecio is a beautiful testament to this hard-won victory. At 13, she is not defined by her past but by her ambition. A very passionate girl from Calamba, Laguna, she has risen from the ashes of a critical ailment like the proverbial Phoenix to reclaim life—which she almost lost at 5—every way she can. A volleyball player and campus journalist, she also serves as the president of her school’s student government. 

Her life is full of new learnings and friends, and a renewed joy in baking, eating good food, travelling, writing, and even shopping!—things Mommy Anna Andrecio never thought Baby Yunix would even grow up to enjoy. But prayers work, miracles happen, and wishes do come true. Especially when backed by a proactive stance, parental grit, and trust in the power of science, not just faith. 

But to truly understand the depth of Yunix’s joy and Mommy Anna’s gratitude, it’s important to look back at the battle they fought to get here, a battle that was won not just by her own resilience and steadfastness, but by the power of a single, hopeful wish.

Providential Diagnosis and Fortuitous Wish

The journey began with a terrifying diagnosis: cancer of the blood, popularly known as leukemia. An early diagnosis at a public hospital in Batangas, which proved providential and crucial to expediting early treatment, led them to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila, where the fight began. 

“There were moments I thought we were losing her,” Mommy Anna recounts. “She didn’t recognize me. We had to constantly pump blood into her legs because her marrow just wasn’t producing the blood that she needed.” 

She remembers the impossible trips—the race against the 30-minute viability window of the blood from Intramuros, where they bought the blood, to Santa Cruz, Laguna, hiring an ambulance to ensure the transfusion could be completed in time. For making the impossible possible, Mommy Anna salutes all the PGH ER nurses for their tireless effort—treating every leukemia case as a priority—and the government funding that made such life-saving procedures accessible to those in need.

It was during this harrowing time that Make-A-Wish entered their lives, providing a much-needed emotional lifeline. They approached Yunix, asking what she wanted to do or what toy she wanted. “She doesn’t need more toys because every time we visit PGH, I would give her a toy as a reward for being brave,” Mommy Anna explains. Out of the blue, in some fortuitous turn of events, Yunix asked to meet in person Asia’s Phoenix, Morisette Amon.

A Wish Come True for the Promise of the Future

“She’s beautiful and very popular at the time,” Yunix shares, trying to recall exactly why Morisette came to mind. But she was so young and too preoccupied to remember, she simply smiled. She and Mommy Anna even forgot having made that wish until, on May 2, 2018, her wish came true. Yunix was 5 when she finally met with Morissette at a Wish Bus 107.5 meeting.

“I was so happy, but completely shocked. It was totally unexpected to see a star in person.” This surprise meeting impressed Yunix’s innocent young mind as an inspiration and aspiration. For one whose wish came true, there is a world out there waiting for her to share her story and inspire others.

This moment became a source of renewed strength for Yunix in her eight-year journey to being cancer-free, three years of which involved intensive and rigorous treatment from 2017 to 2020. The low moments were brutal and exhausting, not to say painful, but Yunix accepted the challenge with amazing determination.

“I never thought of giving up,” she asserts, looking back to those hospital visits. “In fact, I was always excited about my chemotherapy sessions even though it hurt a lot.” There was even a time when Yunix underwent Bone Marrow Aspiration Exit without anesthesia. Her mother and father would “always congratulate me for being so obedient” and were proud of her for enduring the pain and facing every challenge head-on.

Her fierce motivation was simple: the promise of a future. “I kept on fighting because I wanted to be able to go back to school, play outside with my friends, and do what all children my age do—and eat all the foods that I was not allowed to eat during treatment!” she explains. More than anything else, “I want my and my family’s life to return to normal.”

The universe heard her. The high point in Yunix’s journey came in 2020 on her BMA Exit. “With zero cancer cells, that meant I was a chemo graduate!” she recalls with pride. This meant she’s transitioning from treatment to monitoring. In February 2025, she celebrated her fifth survivor anniversary. 

For Yunix, very much a child who survived grown-up hurdles, victory remains pure and simple: “They finally allowed me to play volleyball again!”

Yunix Passes on Her Hope to Children with Cancer

Now 13, Yunix carries the wisdom of a survivor and a leader, and the example of her Mommy Anna. “What could be more challenging than surviving chemotherapy? So, if I face any challenge today, I simply remember all the sacrifices I made for eight years, and that keeps me going.”

Her recovery, as they say, took a village to realize, and Yunix remembers them with deep gratitude. “I thank God, Mama Mary, and all the saints, especially St Padre Pio, our family’s patron saint,” sharing her family’s devotion to the patron saint of healing, pain, and suffering. This, paired with the power of modern medicine and selfless effort to save a loved one, becomes a lived prayer that is more powerful than any desire or wish. 

Without hesitation, her fondest wish of “cancer cure for the world” has herself as living testament, whose advice to any kid living with any serious illness is powerful and direct: “KEEP FIGHTING, GUYS!”

“The world has so much in store for you. Keep praying and always be brave enough to face the challenges of treatment. Obey and follow your parents because they know better,” she explains with conviction in her young heart. “Everything has a reason. Accept the situation. Embrace it. In doing so, the body and the mind follow and begin to heal. Only you can do that much for yourself.”

“Always believe that God has a purpose for all of us. Keep praying because God always listens. And, with God’s grace you—we’ll all—keep on surviving and shining!”

As Morisette’s viral Wishclusive cover of “Rise Up” by Andra Day: 

And I’ll rise up / I’ll rise like the day / I’ll rise up / I’ll rise unafraid / I’ll rise up / In spite of the ache / I’ll rise up And I’ll do it a thousand times again

Who can better say these words more profoundly than one who has survived and risen like a Phoenix, like Yunix, who lived to tell the tale?

Hope doesn’t stop with Yunix. Children no longer need to wish to be cancer-free because, today, Yunix proved they can.

 

Sources

Andrecio, Yunix Asheteen, and Mommy Anna Andrecio. Google Chat interview with the author, October 20, 2025.

Lecciones, Julius A. 2015. “The global improvement of childhood cancer care in the Philippines.” Cancer Control. Accessed November 18, 2025. https://www.cancercontrol.info/cc2015/the-global-improvement-of-childhood-cancer-care-in-the-philippines/.

Morissette Amon. “Rise Up” (Originally by Andra Day). Lyrics. AZLyrics. Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/morissette8167/riseup.html.

Wish 107.5. 2018. “Wish Granted: Morissette Shares a Heartwarming Moment with a 5-year-old Fan.” YouTube video, 3:17. May 9, 2018. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By6JR8-_CkI.

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