San Germán mayor thanks his mother, and father, for the gift of life

San Germán Mayor Virgilio Olivera Olivera

By The Star Staff

On Sunday, San Germán Mayor Virgilio Olivera Olivera gave Mother’s Day thanks, “from the bottom of my heart, to my beloved mother, Mrs. Margarita Olivera, as well as my beloved father, Virgilio Olivera, for having rescued me from the clutches of death.”

Sitting reflectively next to his parents, the mayor used the occasion to open his heart and share part of his life story.

“This day is extremely emotional and is full of moments that reach the center of the heart, where the most intimate emotions meet,” he said. “God made possible what for science turned out to be very difficult or impossible. God had a purpose for me. … We celebrate life and the miracle of existing.”

“We remember that sad moment when the doctors gave Virgilio ‘only 24 hours to live’ at the Mayagüez Medical Center,” the mayor’s mother recalled. “Those were extremely difficult days, filled with suffering, in which we felt our hearts ripped apart with our first hope.

“Even though he was so young, I still can’t get over all that pain,” she added. “His birth was extremely complicated, so difficult. … I was in labor for 24 hours, and because of that, the complications began.”

A tearful Don Virgilio remembered, meanwhile, that “Virgilio was born with perforated lungs and swallowed some of the amniotic fluid.”

“They told us: ‘If he survives 24 hours, your son is a true miracle of life,’” he said. “He was in an incubator, full of wires and impressive machines.”

After enduring that crisis and endless weekly follow-up appointments, Doña Margarita spent a year dressed in her habit, keeping Our Lady of the Miraculous Virgin very present.

Young Virgilio grew strong and was the first of the couple’s three children, with Jesús and Adrián to follow.