A couple of weeks ago we found out a classmate had a bad case of lymphoma. By coincidence, a classmate of mine, my doctor gave me a book on the dreaded disease. All I can say is that the disease - Cancer, even with today's technology is a dreadful, scary thing to acquire. Sadly, it can happen to anyone and at anytime.
My classmate, let's call him Felizardo has been a friend to me since we were in second grade. I distinctly remember that his late mom Luwalhati succumbed to leukemia at that time, just a few weeks prior to our first communion. The school we went to took the entire class to the wake and we sang our communion songs for Tita Nini's wake.
An 8 year old remembers those kinds of things.
As we were growing up, my own mother would periodically ask about Felizardo up to our college years. Thanatophobic herself, my momma was so sad for Felizardo losing his mom at such a young age.
Sadly tragedy struck again Felizardo's family in our senior year. His father was a lawyer and active in politics. In cold blood, he was gunned down after attending a convention.
I went through a lot with Felizardo. We went to parties. Met with the girls. Did a lot of stupid things pubescent juveniles would do. He was so generous, he would let me hang out with him at his crib back in the day. Felizardo was loved.
Felizardo grew up to be a fine man. He married in our freshman college year. raised a family and is now one of the youngest grandfathers I know. His eldest son had his own kid a few years ago. Despite the trials he faced, Felizardo is complete. Endeared by his family and by his many friends. He is successful business practitioner and entrepreneur as well. .
Truly he was the kind of guy the Irish refer to as a "branigan", a true chum to all..
When our class found out about his condition, the core group sprung into action. They organized a fund raising concert with Felizardo as a beneficiary. Aptly entitled A Whole LOTtA Love, the show had Felizardo's cousin, schoolmate and former Kundirana member Ogie Alcasid with his wife, Asia's songbird performed as the main act, gratis. Felizardo's brother in law was with this band Shamrock and they opened for Ogie and Regine belting out classic tunes from back in our day.
I hosted the show with this veteran DJ, the very lovely Tina Ryan. The house was full, about 80 classmates showed up. Even more just bought a ton of tickets for the cause. The show was a blast.
As host we kept it light and we were on a roll citing other classmates like the highly decorated Army Col. Demy Zagala, our war hero from Zamboanga that just came back from the front lines and Eddielou Arellano, one of our biggest classmates that head honchoed the whole thing.
The touching part of the evening was right before the main event. A classmate that recently celebrated his birthday made it his birthday wish for all his friends to go to the show or donate to Felizardo's cause. Being a cancer surgeon, Leo Ona explained that there is much hope for Felizardo and that prayers are essential for his full recovery.
Felizardo's wife Eileen, his mother in law and some relatives also said a few words on Felizardo's condition and took the opportunity to express gratitude for the effort our class took to organize such an event.
The show went on.
In full force, friends, family and classmates partied on for a good cause. Felizardo's wife's pretty classmates were there as well.
It was so much fun I kinda wished it would last forever. Truly a memorable experience.
Now ain't that a lot of LOVE?
No comments:
Post a Comment