Uniting in Prayers for Lito

By: Freya Natasha Fernandez- Dy
Lito's Highschool classmate, a good friend of ours..
Thank you Pyang for this very wonderful article.
Lifted up from SACS Batch 99 Website

I sincerely apologize for having neglected this website.  Even writers suffer a kind of funk.  There comes a period when you just couldn’t find good and exciting things to write about.

But what really urged me to write something here again after so so long was a Facebook status update that I woke up to.  That FB status read:

“Sad news today. I have just been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). I will be undergoing chemotherapy in a few days and will go on isolation to reduce risk of infection. Urgently in need of “O-” (O negative) blood type donors for transfusion next week. We called regional blood bank and red cross already and they don’t have it as of the moment. Kindly refer if you know anyone, you may contact my wife Ara thru 09276333918 or 09228329504. Thank you so much.”

It’s from our fellow 99er, Lito, and I think all, if not most of us, had read it.  And it’s such a sad, heartbreaking news to start the new year.

I haven’t replied to that status update on his wall, nor have I sent Lito and his wife, Arlyn, some words of consolation or sympathy through text or private message.  I feel that these channels are rather congested, so the more I resolved to write about it here.

I am no longer close to Lito now, but I still feel shaken by the news.  Maybe because there really was a time when I considered him close to my heart.  That was way back during our stint with The Alphonsian Press, where we had the chance to go to Bohol together for a press conference, and I was witness to Lito’s first foray into photography as well as witness to the first part of the Lito-Arlyn love story.   Way back when I was the receiving end of Lito’s child-like rants regarding his failed relationships.   Way back when we’d go on double dates (the memory of which makes me go ‘ewwww’).  Way back when we would spend the night at their house to lay out the pages of the school paper. Way back when he would show up at my place so I could accompany him to his ex-girlfriend’s house and play buffer against her strict brother.  Way back when he arranged for a guy for me to date some time after I broke up with the high-school boyfriend.  Way back when he would giddily tell me about meeting Arlyn again and rekindling their love.  And with him becoming such a busy, kick-ass businessman and photographer, I couldn’t avoid the gradual disconnection.

But despite that, I still feel shaken because I know Lito and Arlyn had been through so much last year.  I know they had faced health and family-related issues.  And I know they had to deal with the loss of their much-awaited firstborn child.  My heart goes out to them, and if Lito were the same excitable and childish guy I knew some 15 years ago – in contrast to the strong and mature man he has become now – I wouldn’t have had second thoughts and would have given him a real, big hug.  I know for a fact that if these very problems had been thrown my way instead of theirs, I would have lost my mind and you’d now be seeing photos of me in a straightjacket and praying for the speedy recovery of my mental health.

I feel shaken because cancer needs so much courage and optimism to fight.  Just when they are starting to stand up and dusting off their knees, another blow hits them.  I seriously couldn’t understand fate, or time, or life.  If something like this could happen to people like them, it could happen to any one of us.  It could happen to the best of us.  And if it does, we’d realize that understanding fate, or time, or life does not really matter.  What matters is finding the things with which to face the greatest challenges of our lives.  What matters is finding the strength to keep going while staying whole.

This entry is getting long.  But all I really want to say is, let’s unite in our prayers.  There is strength in numbers.  And if any one of us ever gets to face hardships as challenging as what Lito is facing now, never hesitate to call on the rest of us for strength.  We’d troop and knock together on heaven’s doors and ask God for miracles.  And we will think of your victories in these battles as our own.

So get well soon, Lito.

Lito Inso said:

Hi Frey,

What can I say, thank you so much for doing this. Even though, we weren’t able to get in touch lately, I still consider you close to me and not just you, but most of batch 99. Somehow, High school was a very big part of my life since in my college days, nag focus nako sa business already, side-line ang skwela LOL. “eww” moments hahaha! I can’t forget those times. Again, very thankful for the overwhelming support from my family, friends and friends of friends. Dagha’ng salamat!

Lito

PS. you guys may follow me thru twitter. @litoinso i’m actively posting some quick updates with whats going on here at Chong Hua Hospital, with some jokes sometimes hehe. I’m doing this coz I’m not allowed to have guests due to my very low immune system. Again, salamat!

Ara said:

Pyang… I am brought to tears.. I feel like I’ve been transported to Bohol… such memories… THank you so so much for this People like you are blessings to us. Memories like this will always be in our hearts. Because it’s part of us, albeit years of separation, there will never be a disconnection.