Actress Camille Prats's husband, Anthony Linsangan, 31, died of nasopharyngeal cancer on September 23, PEP.ph reports. The day after he passed away, Camille granted entertainment talk show Startalk an interview and expressed her grief.

The actress, who is only 26 years old, tried to be strong at first. "Okay naman, medyo siyempre mahirap (I'm okay, though of course, there are moments when it's hard)," she is quoted as saying on PEP.ph. "Pero siguro, the family, ako, medyo nakita. Hindi naman nakita, pero hinanda naman namin ang sarili namin na kung sakali man na dito papunta. (But I think I [and] the family, we saw it coming. Well, not that we knew exactly, but rather, we prepared ourselves just in case this was what would happen.)"

Her husband was turning 30 last year when he was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. "We had hope," Camille recounts. "Kaya kami nag-resort to treatment and all those things, kasi nga we had hope that he will get better at kakayanin niya. Kasi nga bata pa siya. (Because he's still young.)"

Anthony had to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments, the latter of which burned his neck and throat and caused him to have a hard time swallowing. He never gave Camille any last wishes, something she considers both a blessing and a curse. "Siguro ayaw din niya akong mag-isip na, di ba? If something happens to him, ayaw niya akong mag-isip pa ng kung ano ang gusto niyang gawin or kung ano yung gusto niyang gawin ko pa. (Perhaps he didn't want me to have to think about anything more, right? If something [were to happen] to him, he wouldn't have wanted me to think about what else he would've wanted to do or wanted me to do for him.)"

A sick Anthony even recorded all the episodes of Camille's current soap, Munting Heredera, to show his wife support. Meanwhile, Camille did her best to stay strong and keep her eyes dry in front of him. "Tin-ry ko talaga na hindi niya makita iyon. (I really tried not to show him that.) Kasi pag ako, kasi siguro yung nasa posisyon niya, I'm sure he was drawing his strength from me and he had to see that in me. So I never showed any sign of weakness sa kanya, wala talaga akong pinakita."
 
Now Camille is still left wondering after losing her husband. Anthony leaves, not just her, but their three-year-old son Nathan behind. "Hindi ko talaga naiintindihan, even until now that he's gone, I don't understand. And when I see other people, when I see couples my age, and they're just starting, I don't understand why I had to lose him at this very early age."

Still, Camille is thankful that Anthony is now free from pain. "The entire year na nagpapagamot siya, he has gone through so much pain," she is quoted as saying on PEP.ph. "Hirap na hirap na hirap na hirap na talaga siya na minsan, hindi ko alam kung ipagdadasal ko ba na pahabain pa yung buhay niya pero ganito, or kung kunin na lang siya para hindi siya mahirapan. (He was having a really, really, really hard time; to the point that I wasn't sure whether to pray for more time with him when he was like this or ask God to take him so that he would no longer suffer.)"

"Alam ko, he's in a very good place now, and I know he will always be with me," she adds. "Alam ko palagi niya akong sasamahan at palagi rin niyang sasamahan si Nathan. (I know he'll always be with me and Nathan.) Okay na ako dun."     


(Photo courtesy of PEP.ph)

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