Antonita Phillip knew her youngest daughter, Junny, needed more help than she could get at home in Onoun, Chuuk.

Junny was born with cereral palsy and scoliosis and had been suffering seizures since she was just 3 months old.

But getting Junny the help she needed meant that Phillip would have to travel to Hawaii, leaving her husband and two older daughters behind.

"I did my best to take care of her," says Phillip, 33, "but I knew she needed more help."

Phillip taps her chest.

"I knew it here that it was the right thing to do."

Phillip repeats the gesture often.

She taps her chest gently to communicate the sorrow she felt when her baby brother, whom she had raised as if he were her own, died after a fall at age 6.

She taps the same spot as she tells about the time she and her future husband, Junior Robert, were riding a small boat from Weno back to Onoun. The boat was struck by a large wave in the middle of the night. Junior saw that Phillip’s pillow was soaked, so he let her rest her head on his lap while he sat up the rest of the night. They had not been on a real date yet, but Phillip knew then that the love that Junior had so earnestly professed before was real.

In 2010, Phillip boldly petitioned a local senator for help in getting Junny to Hawaii. In February 2011 she got her wish.

"I was so worried for Junny that I hadn’t slept well since she was born," Phillip said. "That first night that Junny was at the hospital, I was finally able to really sleep."

But Phillip’s struggles were hardly over. She was staying with a relative in Kalihi, but that arrangement was just a stopgap. Junior was able to come over nine months later, but left soon after to work on a fishing boat in Alaska, one of several difficult jobs he’s undertaken to support the family.

Phillip got a job as a part-time teacher at Likelike Elementary. Each night, she cried herself to sleep thinking about the two daughters, B.O. Leen and Carma Mary, she left in the care of her mother back home.

Things started to turn around earlier this year when the family joined Family Promise, an innovative program that, among other things, provides temporary housing via a network of shelters while families stabilize their circumstances and seek permanent housing.

B.O. Leen and Carma Mary arrived in Hawaii last month. Phillip continues to work at the elementary school. Junior found a job with Team Clean Hawaii. And little Junny, now 4, has flourished in her new surroundings.

"She used to only cry," Phillip said. "Now she’s a very smiley girl who loves school. I’m so grateful for all the help we have received from the state and from Family Promise.

"I am very happy," she said, tapping her chest, "in here."

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Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.