Letters From Friends (July 2006)

July 16 2006

Hi Jon,

I may be a little late on Wednesday as I forgot that I have a prior engagement (USNAAA Phil Chapter dinner). Anyway, rest assured that we will help in anyway we can.

Jun
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18 july

Hi Jonathan & Emma,

Maybe this article will give you a bigger picture on how to go about bmt. I suggest that you try to get as much options as possible. At least by the time you need to make a decision, you have something to choose from.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help. Don't be ashamed. Helping you is nothing compared to all the help I once received. And I'm pretty sure, later on, you will do the same. You will just be overwhelmed with God's love & blessings.

For everything you do, always ask for His guidance. Keep the faith!

Ferdie
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20 july

Hi Jon,

I understand from the text messages of Puring and Emma that you're in Manila to evaluate which Hospital would be best for Yam's bone marrow transplant procedure. Evidently you had visited or contacted St. Luke's and it appeared it's more expensive than Asian Medical, but that you're still to visit Asian Medical.

I have no idea what would be possible, but when you had made the comparisons, I was thinking of talking to Mr. Robert Kuan and ask if SLMC could match that of Asian Med., only because we're more familiar with SLMC and the surrounding support network there. Mr. Kuan is the Chairman of the Board of St. Luke's. If you have more time in Manila, I can try to get the two of you to meet and discuss the concern. He responds very well with text messaging. Let me know what your itinerary is like.

For Yam, I would have no reservation in asking/soliciting help. I can promise this. I don't have any estimate of what response there is, but there's no way of knowing until we try. Please keep me posted.

Thanks. May God's presence mightily hover over all of you, specially with Yam. Amen.

Tony Gomowad

P.S. Puring and Emma have my texting number. Messages go to my computer where I could see it three or four times a day. But I do not carry my cellphone. Advantage of this is that anyone can send me messages anytime, it does not bother me. Disadvantage is that I cannot respond immediately unless it happens that I am in front of my computer when I receive the message.
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Jon,

As soon as I get the materials that you send me, including, if possible a picture of "Yam", (your daughter's name is Eunice?) I will write a letter of introduction and connect you with two persons first,

Mr. Harry Paltongan, Vice President of the Company for that Global Community Village in Makati (from Bauko) and Mr. David Tauli in Cagayan. These two had been key in organising the Golf Fundraiser for St. Mary's last year.

If you have Tomas Bayogan's email address, I'd appreciate if you forward it to me.

Take care.

Tony
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22july

Hi Jon,

I checked your postings last night. I received the attached letter in text. However, I couldn't open the pictures. Please try to re-send them.

If you re-send them, please copy Dr. Fiar-od, and she can check if it went through to her e-mail address. Otherwise, please give her a hard copy, and she could have it scanned and sent to me in Baguio by my nephew. Or she could do that in Bontoc and give to Puring the pictures.

This is a rare opportunity that you may have a chance to meet in person Caridad Fiar-od, the Vice President of MPSPC, and friend of your older sister, Puring.
Here is Dr. Caridad's CP No.... She has yours. Atty Paltongan is supposed to meet her on arrival about 3 PM this afternoon. Have a nice weekend.

Tony
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22july

Jon, Thanks. I received the pictures. Yam looks great! As soon as you get back to Mindanao, I will link you up with David Tauli. Let me know if you already know him.

Tony
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Hi Jon,

Please note that the document attachment came through fine, but none of the pictures came out. Please send it via another way.

I noticed the email address of Estefania Esparza, a long lost acquaintance whose family I met in Las Vegas! Helloooooooooo! Alohaaaaaaa! What a small world! How are your two kids, who must have grown up now! Estefania, please give my regards to your kind husband!

Jon, our prayers are with you and specially with Yam.

Tony Gomowad
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25 july

Dear Sir,

I was once a student of yours many moons ago.

I was wondering if Yam would like to read Harry Potter or if she has not read it yet. I would gladly give her my collection if it will give her some enjoyment. Please give me a bank account to deposit stuff.

Layad,
Jennifer
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18 Jul 2006 07:02

Hi Jonathan & Emma,

Maybe this article will give you a bigger picture on how to go about bmt. I suggest that you try to get as much options as possible. At least by the time you need to make a decision, you have something to choose from.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help. Don't be ashame. Helping you is nothing compared to all the help I once received. And I'm pretty sure, later on, you will do the same. You will just be overwhelmed with God's love & blessings.

For everything you do, always ask for His guidance. Keep the faith!

Ferdie
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18 Jul 2006 08:30

Hi Sir Jon,

My students and I have started conceptualizing the website layout for Yama. Please email me on what buttons and links you want in the site. I have attached a .zip file in this message... just click on the INDEX file to open the main page. Bale, di pa namin na-finalize ang text and photos and links kasi kanina lang namin inumpisahan. But i have set a deadline, Monday, July 24. Final copy of the site will be sent to you for approval and whether some changes are needed. Please also comment on the layout... or the photo you want in the main page. There will be a collage of yama's photos on the top part of the page. Would you allow an item in the webpage that will feature the donors/sponsors who have already supported/helped yama para naman ma-enganyo ang ibang tao na mag-donate. If so, please provide me with the text of the Credits/Donors page and the people/company who have done their part already.

I will email you again of the website creation progress tomorrow. Basta, tapusin namin on Monday... hopefully.

Please also provide me links of the websites you want na gawin nating Related Links sa webpage. If you have made Yama a journal on her battle against Leukemia, pwede din natin gawan ng isang item na Journal and feature her day-to-day activities after having been diagnosed with AML.

Email me soon.

Leng
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24 Jul 2006 08:11

Dear Dr. Bayogan,

Sorry for just responding now. Here in Africa, current and internet are things so hard to come by. My parents have already briefed me on your daughter's condition. I am so sorry that I am not there in the Philippines right now (where I can have more access to friends and contacts) but will do my best to help you anyways.

With regards to having your daughter's story on the Medical Observer, I will try to get in touch with my editor regarding this matter. As it is we did an issue on BMT two years ago and the patient also had AML and the donor was from a sibling. The procedure was done at the Asian Hospital and the doctors were from there as well. I will see if my editor will be interested to run the story although I cannot give
guarantees about this. As it is the magazine runs on sponsorship from pharmaceuticals and I am not really sure if they can spare a few pages.

I also asked a family friend of ours for some contacts as she had a nephew who was also stricken with AML and was treated in Asian hospital. Mom will try to give you the details of the Doctors, their contact numbers and the institutions they have approached for help with the costs.

I feel for you and your family and am with you in prayer. In my years a doctor I have seen how hard it is for a family to be torn apart because of the chronic illness of another member.

Till next email (God knows when that will be),

LUCIO
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24 Jul 2006 18:58

My brothers and sisters,

I ask your prayers for the daughter of our classmate Jonathan. Can we do something to help?Please see below.

Erwin
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27 Jul 2006 03:04

Dear Jon,

This weekend, I will carry the Solicitation out to specific persons, and to Anglican Filipino Clergy as well as to the several Military Chaplains who have congregations which group I belong to.

What I do need from you, which is the best option here, is a "Handler/Recipient" with an Account like yours, that has a Non-profit status.

This is essential here so that those who may donate could use their receipts for tax purposes.

Also, you must be aware that nowadays there are several solicitations that are scams, so it makes a world of difference if the "Controller/Account Holder" would be a Church and/or Organisation that has a Non-profit status. I trust that you understand this.

Can you perhaps talk with David Tauli, if he belongs to a registered organisation that can take this up? How about a Church for an alternative/addition?

How was your talk with Atty Paltongan?

I was thinking of following it up with him, and possibly his group in Manila.

Can you give me some names of your SMS batch who are in the USA. I will need this soon, because I want to capitalize on those who would be attending the SMS Alumni Kanyaw in L.A. on July 28th-29th.

Tony
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26 Jul 2006 14:12

Jonathan,

I already tried to forward your plea after I read it. I added some of my words there. I'm not sure if it went through because the file seems too big for my mail server. Did you get it? If you did, then it must be okay.

By all means do whatever you want. My heart bleeds reading Yam's plight. May God be with us all.

Harry

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26 Jul 2006 19:05

Ola Jonathan and Emma,

It is always sad to hear of friends and relatives and kakailians be afflicted with some maladies and most especially children. These are our work here now. Your uncle fred is a pediatrician and he is saddened to learn about Yam. But you know I always believe in the power of prayer.If you hear of healing masses around your area try to go. I have the utmost faith that with medicine along with prayers Yam can conquer her aches and pains.
....

Ala, esten tako ay menkararag ay menkedaw si tulong nan Apo ay manang-nga-asi et kasiyana gumawis to san anaktako.

Komusta kayo amin issa.

Kararag ya layad ay magapu ken dakami isna.

Auntie Ellen isna Texas
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26 july

My dear friends,

This is just an added push for the plea. Yam Bayogan is hanging on to dear life.

We first read about the health condition of Eunice Joy "Yam" Valdez Bayogan when Caring and Padi Tony posted it here in the internet. I'm quite sure that many of us have already responded to the plea. Some may haven't yet, so I am forwarding this email and the attached profile of Yam that Jonathan sent to some individuals. I was one of those who read the emails and forgot about them. When I read this latest one from Jonathan I'm glad that he CC'd me), I felt guilty not having did something even very little about it.

Please read through again and see for yourself how urgent the Bayogan family needs our help. We are all aware of the various IGO and bibaknets projects that have dominated our discussions here in the internet lately. On top of these, we also have other cases like the St. Peter's church in Sabangan that we are glued on. I would like to suggest that we take a time off on these projects that we know can wait and do something to try to save the life of a budding 10 year old girl. Per the letter, the Bayogans need 2-3 million pesos to get Yam to undergo what is medically necessary to save her life. A little help from any of us will mean a lot. I'm sure everyone else who learned about the plight of Yam is also doing their part.

LET'S RAISE FUNDS TO SAVE A YOUNG LIFE FIRST!

Jonathan has also been a bibaknets member for so many years now. Although he seldom posts, he has been a loyal member since he joined the list. I remember him requesting me to change his email address when he was headed to Davao because he still wanted to keep abreast with what's going on with bibaknets.

My wife died a month before she turned 60. I can say that she enjoyed her life fully before she departed. Let's try to help give Yam many more years of life on earth beyond 10. God will do the rest and the best.

Thanks to you all, please read on. If the file is too large, I will forward Jonathan's email by itself.

Harry B, 26 july 06
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26 Jul 2006 22:13

Dear Sir,

I got the-mails on the plight of Yam and hope to write a story, hoping it would help in your effort to reach out to Samaritans.

I'm not sure if we've met but I presume lawyer Tom Bayogan, my buddy in college until now, is your kin.

It may be a bother during these trying times but I hope you can e-mail me some data, you and your wife's ages, your place in Tadian, where you studied, how you resettled in Mindanao, etc. Perhaps your personnel data file can be faxed to our office number...

Thank you very much and I join you and the rest of our "kailians" in prayer for Yam.

Respectfully,

Ramon Dacawi
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27 Jul 2006 04:16

Thank you Atty H. Paltongan, Evelyn Unos Medrano, and Isabel Wolfe for your quick responses. Those sending their aids, please be advised that the name of Jonathan's bank branch is Mati and not Makati. For complete bank info, please refer to Jonathan's email below. (Atty. HarryP, it may not matter but you might want to check with the bank if you sent your remittance to Makati and not Mati). I believe "swist" code is supposed to be swift code in case you're asked..

HarryB

Jul 27, 2006 4:49 am (PST)

HarryB, HarryP, C2, and Lulu, or anyone who had experience in transmitting money to a bank account, I would just like to have some instruction on "how to send money" through the bank. Seriously, I haven't done this before. Do I take it that with the account details provided: name of account (Jonathan Bayogan), bank (Development Bank of the Phil.), branch (Makati), and account number (.....), I can just go to a bank, give money and the said details and that's it?

I'll try to solicit from a few golfers coming to the Kanyaw from BIBAK-Northeast. Erwin, Nick, Brian, Edong, ay mabalin?

Anyway, whatever they can share, I'll send it through the bank. Kusto met laeng ta sorwek ti agipaw-it iti banko. Ngem, ay siadi? Basta mapanak with the said bank details? I still don't understand no kas-ano nga iseksek da ti cheke iti wire (?) nga mapan to another bank. No koma adda laengenen agbiahe nga mapan Pilipinas.

Incidentally, I'm privileged to have some memories about Jonathan when he had a stint in Saint Mary's School, Sagada. I'm not quite sure if he graduated there but he was studying there while I was leaving. And yes, he was such a humble intelligent student in Sagada. I wasn't surprised that he became the president of a state univ.
If you are reading this Jonathan, I also remember you always smiling so humbly. Please remain as steadfast in your faith. You and your family, especially Yam, will be in our prayers.

Sincerely, Jerry (abeya)
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27 July

Hello everyone,

It really is so difficult to understand life. Yam was still a baby when the Bayogans left BSU several years back. Last time I saw her was in 2003 when we went to visit them in Mati, Davao. Indeed, one would wonder how something like this could afflict such a young bubbly girl like her.

Both Jonathan and Maruth were well-liked and admired when they were here not only for their dedication to the service but also for their very pleasant relationship with people. I learned a lot of lessons in humility from Jonathan. Everybody knows that he is intelligent but it is so easy for him to acknowledge that there are a lot of things he does not know. Saying "ne, adiak ammo sa a" is so natural for him.

Yama joking about saving her falling hair for his daddy's wig tells us she is a chip off the old block. Maruth's industry and organization in work is something one can really look up to. Yama's nickname comes from Yam (Ube), the subject of her mom's research for quite some time.

They are really a nice family.

Wen, men-oo tako. We are starting a fundraising campaign here too.

Lulu
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26 July

Good morning to all,

Thanks Tokayo and we look forward to a successful fund-raising (we call it "men-oo") similar to what you initiated for the late Ms. Laduan, another cancer-patient, who passed away but left her daughter Rosemarie to our care. We all supported Rosemarie through our Bibakents Educational Support Fund ("BESF") 'til she graduated Accounting this year. And they are not even Igorots by blood.

Jonathan and her 10-year old daughter Yam are our very own (particularly, i-Tadian). Yam is a bright young girl garnering modest honors in her school. Her dad Jonathan, driven by sheer igorot virtues and persistency rose to become President of a state college in Davao. Such employment, however, cannot adequately respond to the limitless financial burden this kind of illness brings forth. The 2-3 M is just for an urgent bone marrow transplant. Th family's finances was understandably exhausted by the earlier aggressive yet costly treatments (chemotherapy) .

Most of us are perhaps unaware of how it is to be helplessly watching a dearest one writhing in utter pain while desperately trying to subdue this insuperable disease. It must be a supreme test of a father's resilience being personal witness to how the gnawing chemo drugs burn his kids' gentle skin and eat up her tissues in an attempt to poison out the cancer cells. How would a father answer his little darling's whispered question--'why is this happening to me dad'? And as each strand of hair falls down from her scalp pulling with it her father's tiny beads of hope, as the fragile body loses weight day by day and as the brittle bones gradually become prominent testing to the extreme her dad's otherwise sturdy faith, a father's prayer will normally be to implore God to just please shift the illness to him and let his little baby free.

But Jonathan is not giving up. For like a true igorot, while there is a ray of hope though how flickering it may seem, it is still hope. And this is what he is sharing with us. Now it is his turn, tomorrow might be ours. While we discuss myriad of matters in the warmth of our respective dap-ays, let's lend a hand to this kid out there shivering in the cold. We naturally unite in moments of sorrows when one passes away. The more we should unite to save one from passing away at a time so soon. Of course, the Almighty has his plans and part of it must be for us to stand for each other-esp. for those in need. Part of it must be to save Yam with us as his instruments.

Thanks.

Harry Paltongan and family
Makati, Phil.

PS: My family and I am remitting today our modest contribution to help save Yam.
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28 Jul 2006 00:30

Hi there. This is Mark in Brent's office. So sorry to learn about the illness of Jonathan's daughter. Jonathan classmate, our prayers are with you. May God in his infinite goodness touch Yam. Pumipigsa kayo kayet. Do you remember me kayman?

In Bontoc ta makisolidarity prayer rally kami with St. Peter's congregation and the diocese in their quest for truth and justice with regards to the demolition of their church.

Maid pay lang email isnan station ko id Abut, Quezon, Isabela. Waay awnit dumateng to.

God bless ket matagotago tako am-in,

Mark D.
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jon,

It's ok Jon, we haven't met yet. Your message was forwarded to me by a friend from Zamboanga whose 13 year old son, Petpet, was also afflicted with leukemia.

Find comfort in the assurance of God's love.

God bless
Lydia

I recall how it was with Petpet (BLD Zambo) last year, when many people prayed, comforted, and were
made instruments of God's provisions. I'm passing this message to more people (BCC) who may also help Yam (Eunice) especially those form Davao.

Lydia
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28 Jul 2006 16:10

Thank you, Jon.

David would also know that in the past there were issues about individual donors transmitting directly to bank accounts, especially banks in the Philippines (but it was also true with the case of Australia last year.) Banks would win big time, and for small donations, it doesn't make sense. Also banks would charge so much for conversions of checks and other currencies.

So the solution to this is to "pool" donations in countries or regions, such as in the USA. Harry Basingat in L.A. is willing to receive donations, and when this is pooled he could do the transmittal.

Aside from David's possible organisation/Church with non-profit status,I will check with the centrally located, Episcopal Diocese of Central Philippines, based at Cathedral Heights. They've done this before when we solicited for the landslide victims of Aurora and Quezon Provinces. When this is set-up, I will go for the wider Episcopal Church through my Bishop in New York.

Let's keep connected.

My prayers.

Tony Gomowad
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28 Jul 2006 17:37

Dear Emma , Jonathan and Yam,

My name is Evelyn Padua from Brisbane,Queensland Australia and has also been a recipient of many generous people in my Australian community. I am a cancer survivor and has been lucky with a very good health system in place that has also helped thru.

I cannot imagine the anguish you have for your child and I emphatize with you both for being strong for Yam and the rest of your family members. Please keep doing the best you can, the best shot you have and God will do the rest.

I would like to donate to help with Yam's medical expenses and send it door to door to your account-this is the mode I send money for the Philippines but it only accepts when converted to pesos. Could you please email me to confirm if your account accepts peso deposits, if not have you got a peso account as an alternative?

Wishing and praying for you to stay strong and Yam to get better.

Warm regards,
Evelyn Padua