by Elpidio Estioko
Life is so precious that we need to value our existence while we are still capable of enjoying it because when the Lord calls us, He will come like a thief (2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 16:15).
We should be ready to accept it! So, when it is time, all we need to do is treasure the memories we built and time we spent on earth during our lifetime with our loved ones, friends and acquaintances.
I will devote this week’s column to acknowledge and celebrate the gift that is my younger brother Leo Reasonda Estioko’s life to us. But also acknowledge the pain that his demise brings us.
Together, in sharing the joy and the pain, we will lessen the passion and remember more lucidly the joy we spent together throughout his 73 years of his life on earth.
Leo passed away on Sunday evening at 9:45 pm, February 16 at Ciders-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
It was so sudden that we even didn’t expect it to happen even in the hands of medical experts in a hospital that offers world-class specialty care. After all, the patient’s life is not in the hands of the experts, but God. The culprit? Cardiac arrest!
When I visited him when he was still in the Bakersfield hospital, I saw in him the courage and strength of survival as he painfully continued talking to me despite his medical condition. I urged him not to talk anymore but he insisted on telling me his desires and places he wanted to see.
He was then diagnosed of stage 4 lymphoma cancer which started in his lower extremities and aggressively moved up to his belly paving the way for a chemotherapy.
He was transferred to Ciders-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for advanced treatment. His brain chemo showed negative results and didn’t affect his brain but after a couple of days, he had a cardiac arrest due to very low blood pressure triggered by high potassium.
In just a day and half, he succumbed to death when all his vital organs stopped functioning. It was so sudden and we never suspected it was coming considering that he was on the verge of overcoming his stage 4 lymphoma cancer.
Leo, being the youngest of 13 children (10 boys, three girls), was very close to our family and to his friends.
Growing up with Leo as my younger brother, we didn’t spend much time together because after high school, I left for college in Manila while he remained in the province.
After graduating high school, he and his twin brother Mar went to the San Carlos Minor Seminary for four years. After their seminary years, they immigrated to Canada and after living there for many years, Leo’s family moved to Bakersfield, California.
We, however, maintained contact through email and FaceBook on a weekly/biweekly basis.
There were many wonderful aspects to Leo’s life, and many ways that he touched our lives. He will be remembered as a wonderful brother, a great friend, and a friendly face in his neighborhood. In all his ways and more, he made our lives richer and fuller of memories.
Memorial services were held on Friday, March 7 at the Cherokee Memorial Park Vineyard Chapel.
Leo is the 13th of 13 children (10 boys, 3 girls) of our great parents: the late former Vice Mayor of Urdaneta Marciano B. Estioko, Sr. and Leonor Reasonda Estioko. He is survived by his wife Amelia, a Registered Nurse, and his two sons, Matthew from LA and Michael with his wife Michelle and two-year-old boy Noah from Lodi, California.
The four surviving siblings are Romulo, from San Jose; Dr. Manuel with wife Bobbie from Pacific Palisade; Prof. Elpidio from Milpitas with Delia and their six children Gigi from Sydney, Australia and her husband Eric, a Registered Nurse; Jojo and wife Alvi, also a Registered Nurse, with their two daughters Bibay and Kayla from Jacksonville, Florida who are in their college years; May with her fiancé Steve from Manteca; Charles Jayson from Milpitas; Tweety and husband Sgt. 1stClass Jonathan Rasay and their 5-year old daughter Ellie from Hawaii; and Paul Joseph, also from Hawaii; and twin brother Mar with wife Jill and children Bryan and Valerie from Canada.
Since his passing, there is emptiness, pain, confusion and even anger at death coming after a man of only 72 years old. However, the gift of Leo’s life is still here with us in many ways.
All the memories we built together still linger in our minds and deeply rooted in our hearts forever.
On behalf of the rest of the family, I’d like to thank you all for remembering him and sharing your sentiments about him. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.
To you my brother Leo, we will miss you, but you will be with us in our minds and in our hearts… forever!
Rest in peace, my beloved brother Leo!
ELPIDIO ESTIOKO was a veteran journalist in the Philippines and an award-winning journalist here in the US. He just published his book Unlocking the chain of Poverty: In Pursuit of the American Dream which is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Xlibris Publishing. For feedbacks and comments, please email the author at estiokoelpidio@gmail.com.
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