My name is Niche Ybasan Parallon Simon. I was born on April 3, 1982 from Mr. & Mrs. Cirila and Rufo Parallon of Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental. I was raised in a small town by my parents until I was 9 yrs. old. I the 4th of the 7 children. My Parents were both farmers. During my early age about 7 to 8 years old, I was trained to take care of my younger siblings. I attended my Elementary education in Zamboanguita Central Elementary School. My Mother passed away when I was 10 years old from Myocardial Infarction. After my Mother’s passing, I was separated from my other siblings because my Father was not capable of raising all of us. I was raised by one of my Dad’s distant relative whom I called “ Mama/Lola” she raised me as her own child just like she promised my Mother. I graduated High School in Santiago Delma Memorial High School. After my graduation I went to college to study Bachelor Of Business Administration major in Computer Management, not because I wanted to but because it was the only course that was affordable. I’ve always dreamt of being a nurse because of my Mother’s death at my early age. I wish I could have done more for her to keep her alive but nobody knew she had that opportunistic disease. After college, I left the country to work as a caregiver to a new born baby in Happy Valley HongKong to me, that was the perfect opportunity to prepare for my dream of becoming a Nurse. I worked as a caregiver in HongKong for 2 years . During the epidemic SARS in HongKong, my employer moved back to their 2nd home in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada and took me with them. They encouraged me to find a nursing school in Vancouver that I can attend at night to start my nursing education but after almost 2 years of trying, the Canadian told my employer that I can’t go to school since I came with them under a worker’s visa. I flew back to the Philippines and tried to apply for a student visa but has not succeeded. My employer then rehired me as a caregiver. After all the struggles I just gave up and just focused on my caregiving job. In 2005, after 4 years of friendship, I was engaged to my very supportive husband and we tied the knot after 2 years. Started a Family in San Diego, California where he was stationed serving the Navy. In San Diego I started my journey into nursing by taking a CNA class and became certified. It was a very good accomplishment for me although others won’t look at it the same. I became an Acute care CNA and worked at ER, Med surge, ICU, and Telemetry units. I met a lot of people who encouraged me to pursue Nursing and I did. We moved to Oregon in 2012 and I officially became a licensed Nurse in 2013, I am getting there slowly but I wouldn’t do it the other way. I love what I do and my heart just keeps taking me there. It is my passion not just a profession. I love serving the Filipino community in any way I can and despite my very busy life, I would still love to get involved in any activities that are for good cause that is why I worked very hard to raised funds in 2014 when I was nominated to be one the Mrs. Philippines candidates. I will continue to serve our Filipino-American community. I will take any opportunity that I can in doing so. Thank you for considering me to be the PRO for PNAOW, one of the organizations that is very close to my heart because of their visions including humanitarian services through medical missions.