Cristine Reyes revealed an unforgettable moment in her life over a decade ago.
During the face-to-face press conference for Viva's remake of the K-drama Encounter, Cristine shared that she actually battled meningitis in 2010.
"Naalala ko year 2010 [or] 2009, I had a project with Jeffrey Jeturian called Reputasyon on ABS-CBN. And then I was also doing The Other Woman for Star Cinema and Viva. And then obviously every day ako nagwo-work noon. Na-overfatigue na ako, low immune system. Tinamaan ako ng virus called meningitis."
"Nag-kombulsyon ako habang nagte-taping. They rushed me to the hospital. I stayed in the hospital for almost a month."
Cristine recalls how the doctors initially couldn't figure out what was wrong. They then performed a procedure involving Cristine's spine before officially diagnosing her with meningitis.
"They couldn’t find out what’s going on with me, so they had to get like a water thing sa spine ko to examine the water in my brain. Then 'yon nga, they found out meningitis and it’s deadly."
ICYDK, meningitis occurs when membranes protecting the brain and spinal cord become inflamed, typically triggered by a bacterial infection.
Cristine says she constantly prayed while she was confined and battled the infection.
"Sabi ko, 'I can’t die. I want to live.' Kasi sa hospital 'di ba sa bed mo, yung wall laging may crucifix? Merong crucifix doon."
"I remember I think I was fighting for my life, 'I can’t die,' even though I was super weak."
Fortunately, Cristine started getting better after a week.
"Lumakas ako bigla. Ang sabi lang ng mga doctors kasi it’s really your body that will fight for itself, e, sa mga virus na 'yan. I guess God gave me strength to fight because I asked for it and I didn’t wanna give up."
The Filipino remake of Encounter, starring Cristine and Diego Loyzaga, premiered in March on TV5 and will be soon available on Vivamax beginning July 23, Friday.