Thanks To You All!!!

Yam Bayogan, who was diagnosed of acute myelogenous leukemia in May 2006,
peacefully expired at 7:45 pm on April 17, 2008 at the Davao Medical School Hospital.
She was laid to rest on April 22, 2008 at the Forest Lake Cemetery, Davao City.

We THANK the Great God, who knows what is best for each of us.
We also THANK our relatives, friends, colleagues, institutions as well as Yam's school,
schoolmates and friends, and many others who showed us
what authentic loving and caring is.

We will miss Yam's lively disposition, infectious smile and inspiring courage.
But these will live on to carry us into living our own lives more meaningfully.

Note: Those who like to view Yam's pictures may click HERE.

Like A Star

by Karla Johnson Almazan

(Karla is Yam’s best friend. She visited Yam twice before Yam went to Manila for treatment. She calls Yam by phone and sends text messages regularly. She again visited Yam in the hospital before her trip to the US where she sent this article to be read during Yam’s funeral services)

Hello po sa lahat! I know that this day is sad for you, and I want all of you to know that it’s sad for me too. We lost a really special person, but it’s also good because she was really going through a hard time, and now she got her rest.

Eunice or Yama is a great girl, she was a good daughter, a good sister, a good niece, a good cousin, a good granddaughter, and a good friend.

Hi, I’m her best friend Karla, we didn’t spend much time together, not like any best friends, that been together for years, we became best friends because of the telephone, yes the telephone, I love that gadget.

When the news has spread that she got leukemia on the starting of the summer of gr.4, I didn’t know about that. The time I got the news is when gr.5 started, I was kind of shocked.

When I got home, I called her, she said it was true, since then I started calling her all the time, each call we became closer, honestly, we weren’t that close when we were in gr.4, sure we spent some moments together in that grade, because we were seat mates once, one time I asked her if she knows the movie “Sound of Music” and she said yes, we started singing all the songs in “Sound of Music” together, especially the song, Edelweiss.

Through gr.5, Joy has been home schooled, I keep on asking ma’am Tan if she took the test already, but I know that she will pass, do you know that Joy is one of the best students, she’s really smart, I have to tell you the truth, in Gr. 3 I kept on being number 2 in the ranking because she’s always number 1, but I wasn’t irritated, because she really deserved that rank because, she’s a really good student.

During gr.5 and the summer after gr.5, that’s when Joy and I really got close, she said she’s getting better and maybe she can go to school in gr.6, I was really happy, because I can see her again, and continue being close friends.

When the first day of gr.6 arrived, I looked forward in meeting joy, she said that she had short curly hair by that time, when I saw her she hugged me and I hugged her back, it was like I’ve been her best friend for years.

Through gr. 6 she went on and off of school, I usually get worried if she doesn’t go to school, so I usually call her house and request an explanation.

Joy was really a great friend to me, she was the first true friend I ever had, she made me realize that you can still find a friend that will be there for you all the time.

When I have a problem at school I usually call her and she will do things to comfort me like, make me laugh, or say things that are in the bright side, that’s the way she treats me like a really good friend, that’s why I can’t help myself to return her ways of being a good friend to me.

So when she asks me to call, I call, and listen to what she wants to say to me, like her problem about some guy named Whiler, please don’t ask any questions about that.

Just to clear things up Joy was really a good friend to me and a good friend to others too, so I can’t help but cry, that my one and only best friend is gone, she was the one who made my gr. 6 year happy, when one of my classmates brought up the topic about me again, that’s really true, she made me happy through grade 6 year.

She was the one who helped me with all my obstacles through the year, and I’m really disappointed about myself because I wasn’t there for her when she was in the time of need, because I had to go here in America.

She was one of my lights when I’m in the dark.

She was always there with me, she was the one who made me stand up again when I fell, I really wanted to tell her that.

So I made this speech to have the chance to say this to her right this moment, that I really appreciate her for being with me.

I wish that God will watch over her when she’s up there, and I wish she will still watch over me and all the people she loved and cared for, and to know that she’s always there for us.

That’s why I thank her for making this quote come true “Friends are like stars, even if you can’t see them sometimes, they’re always there”

Sorry if this speech is kind of messed up, and hard to understand, I wrote it hurriedly, because it was already 2:12 am when I wrote this, but I hope you caught up at the ending, thank you for listening.

Yam Moves On... We Also Move On, Gratefully

27 April 2008. Today is the 10th day after Yam passed away, the 5th day since we laid her to rest.

Along with the grief and sorrow for her loss, we are grateful for more than one year added to her life.

When Yam was diagnosed of acute myelogenous leukemia in May 2006, she was given not much chance. Her pedia-hema-oncologist's first statement when she disclosed the diagnosis was, "I'm devastated." Pressed on for what she meant, she said this kind of leukemia occurs more in adults than children and required an aggressive treatment. Further tests showed Yam had blood cells with structurally abnormal chromosomes. Chemotherapy was meant to kill the leukemic and abnormal cells. The bone marrow transplantation was meant to boost her chance for long-term survival. We believe it did, although not long enough as we hoped it would.

Nonetheless, more than a year was more than the gift we thought of. In our most difficult times and throughout the trying period, a multitude came to our aid, prayed with us and assisted us in many ways we never ever imagined. You quickly joined us in the battle, provided a pillar of strength and stayed by our side. Old friendships were renewed, lost ones were regained and new ones blossomed. We were never alone.

After the transplant and recovery period in 2006-07, Yam hurdled her exams and completed grade 5 through home study. By June last year, she was back to school and represented her school in a city-wide essay writing contest and in a regional science quiz. To provide balance to her rather restricted life, we brought her twice to two mountain resorts, a departure from the beaches which she loved to visit before her illness. She wrote her own account for a magazine and hoped it gets published this quarter (baka hindi na, dahil sa nangyari). She occasionally visited other leukemia patients and shared part of her medical funds. She graduated in absentia from Grade 6 on March 25, topping her class in Math. She lived life fully and in the best way she could.

Late February this year, she had skin rashes. We thus brought her to Asian Hospital on March 2 for check up. A skin biopsy was done and her fever was treated. After 10 days, we moved her to Makati Med with the same attending physicians so our two Manila-based children can visit more frequently. The fever just wouldn't go. After several tests were completed and the treatment regimen established, she was cleared to transfer to a Davao hospital. Still the fever persisted until she was declared relapsed on April 12. It was a quick downhill journey by then until she expired peacefully at 7:45pm on April 17.

Yam's wake was a soothing experience for the family. Her friends and classmates came, so did her teachers, her school principal and school CEO. Relatives from Luzon arrived, family friends visited, as did our colleagues, Yam's physicians, hospital nurses and attendants. Streams of text messages were received expressing shock at the sad event and conveying sympathies. There came parents and people we didn't know, but who came anyway, saying they were touched by Yam's courageous stand. Not the least were the steadying and endearing emails posted by pillars of supporters like you.

On the warm and bright afternoon of April 22, we laid Yam to rest at Davao City's Forest Lake Cemetery after saying THANK YOU to the Great God (who knew what is best for each of us) and to many friends (who showed us what authentic loving and caring is). As the coffin was slowly lowered, light green-colored balloons were released into the sky while the infectious smile of a lively girl and the courage she displayed while fighting a deadly disease are indelibly etched in the memory bank of countless people who will live on, inspired by her innocent and meaningful life.

Life is indeed short and precious. And we can only say, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!