Fortitude

BENCHWARMER
Ramon Dacawi

It may be a motherhood statement, but Veronica Lee-Casuga had always believed hope is believing despite evidence to the contrary. So does her husband, Joefrey, who lost her before dawn last Tuesday - to complications of end-stage kidney failure she had fought for years.

That’s why in 2002, three years after she was diagnosed, Veronica underwent kidney transplant at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City. That’s why mayor Mauricio Domogan interceded for her case to be classified as charity, to give the girl, then 21, a chance for a new lease on normal life. That’s why her maternal aunt, Noella Wallac, gifted her with her own kidney.

That’s why despite the death of her dad, George, a waiter at Sunshine Lunch, three months after the surgery, she recuperated. She then went back to school, graduated as a pharmacist and then worked as such at the Pines City Doctors Hospital.

That’s why Joefrey, her sweetheart since their sophomore year at the Baguio City National High School, had someone fatten five pigs for their wedding the couple set for Christmas, 2007.

Instead, she had a miscarriage and then her condition worsened, prompting Joefrey to rush her to the National Kidney Institute in Quezon City. That’s where the doctors said her kidney had again failed and that she would be back on dialysis and work up for another transplant.

That’s why they sold the pigs, canceled their church wedding and tied the knot in an inexpensive civil rite on Jan. 30, 2008.

That’s why her younger brothers, Jimson and Michael had to quit school . That’s why Jimson, by then old enough to be a donor, offered to gift her with a kidney. That’s why mayor Domogan again endorsed her case for a second charity at St. Luke’s.

That’s why Peewee Agustin drove the family again to and from the medical center, as he used to before and after the first transplant.

That’s why even while the second transplant couldn’t be due to fund lack even for the work-pup, Joefrey, a technician at Moog Controls, tried to sustain Veronica’s twice-a-week dialysis sessions, still hoping Jimson would have the chance to donate.

That’s why her widowed mother, Welia, would now and then travel to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office in Quezon City to work out another letter-guarantee covering the cost of three or four dialysis sessions.

That’s why last June 4, Veronica asked that she be released from hospital confinement. She wanted to celebrate Joefrey’s 3lst birthday the following day at their boarding house near her family home in Camdas here. That’s why, a few hours before she’d let go, Joefrey asked her if she wanted him to bring her to mother’s home.

Both believed and clung to hope until the end. That’s why she was hanging on, to tell Jeofrey the final arrangements: three-night wake, church blessing and cremation, and for him to inform and thank relatives and friends who stood by her through the years.

“She was waiting for me to let her go,” Jeofrey said when he broke the news Thursday morning. “After seeing all her suffering, I had to tell her it was okay to let go… and she did.” That’s why, at the end of the funeral mass, his voice cracked as he took time to thank people of all walks.

That’s why many of those who came for the last rites wore red – the Chinese symbol for good luck. That’s why Josh Groban’s “You Raise Me Up” wafted in the air as the hearse rolled slowly on to “Beyond the Sunset”, the crematorium in Irisan. It was for her, from those whose lives she touched and inspired - with her courage and love (e-mail:mondabench@yahoo.com for comments).