Gary Valenciano. Luis Manzano/YouTube
Years after he was told that he had cancer, Gary Valenciano still remembers the time his doctor found the disease in his kidney.
The OPM icon looked back on his experience of being diagnosed with cancer in the latest vlog of host Luis Manzano.
Valenciano, now cancer-free, shared that he called his fellow Kapamilyas to come to his house to tell them about his condition.
Among those who showed up were Manzano and his wife, actress Jessy Mendiola, and singers Martin Nievera and Toni Gonzaga.
Valenciano said the emotional moment made him realize how much he is loved by his friends in the industry.
"I saw kung gaano katotoo at kung gaano kalalim 'yung pagmamahal sa akin ng mga Kapamilya ko. It will come out, but you want to make sure that the people that need to know need to hear it from me, not from anybody," he said.
According to Valenciano, his cancer was discovered after he underwent heart bypass surgery.
His doctor said he had pleural effusion in his left lung, and later on he found a black spot in the singer's kidney.
"You know, even to a man of faith, that can be a shaking moment," Valenciano admitted. "Kasi cancer hindi ba, hindi mo alam kung ano ang magiging outcome?"
He went on: "Kasi iba 'yung 'lola mo, 'yung tatay mo may sakit.' It's different from, 'ikaw, you have cancer.' Hindi ba minsan kapag may nangyayari sa mga anak natin, 'sana ako na lang?' Eto na. And, somehow that still prevails. 'Yung parang, 'at least it's me, it's not Angeli, it's not Paolo, it's not Gab, it's not Kiana. It's me. Okay. 'Lord, ikaw na bahala.'"
As he recalled the time he was at the operating room again, this time for cancer, Valenciano said: "I had my moment with God, and I said, 'Lord, I'm here again. Hindi pa ba sapat 'yung diabetes? Hindi pa nga ako gumagaling [after bypass], ito [naman], I'm here again.'"
"But at that moment, in the same way that I felt that presence in 1985, there was that presence again in that room. It was like He sat at the foot of my bed to say, 'I know, and I'm here again also.' That's Him and then peace, inexplicable peace na parang, 'okay, all right.'"
Looking back, Valenciano said he learned "just how faithful God really is" after that life-changing moment.
"And God will see you through the darkest, deepest, most painful, and roughest moments in your life," he added.