April 14, 2009
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RIP – Jon Saligumba
I hardly ever share personal information on this blog since I mainly use it for poker content only but this entry will be dedicated to my cousin, Jonathon Saligumba. On April 5th, 2009, he passed away at the young age of 18 years old. He had a very rare heart condition earlier in his life and was exempt from sports like hockey, basketball, paintball, and dancing. This was very unfortunate because Jonathon was a very active kid when it came to physical activity. As time passed and the doctor noticed stability in his heart conditions he was cleared to participate in mild sporting activities. The night of April 5th, he went to a local gym to play a few games of basketball and collapsed into a seizure. A few of the kids that he was playing with quickly aided him to their best abilities and even took his phone out of his pocket to notify his parents. Jonathon was rushed to the hospital and on the ambulance ride his pulse already flat-lined, they injected all the drugs and even shocked his body a few times, he revived for 30 seconds and again flat-lined. By the time my aunt and uncle arrived to the hospital, he was pronounced dead. Our whole family was hysterical, confused, and very depressed. We all were at the hospital through the wee hours all that morning viewing the body and crying.
Jonathon was a very straight edge good kid. Always had the biggest smile on his face and would never show an ounce of anger or sadness when out in public. A very smart and sporty kid with a good head on his shoulders. He had a girlfriend that cared for him and loved him very much. The most dishearting fact about this loss was that he was my aunt’s only child. I wish I could describe to you all how great and promising of a person this kid was, but you just had to meet and spend five minutes with him and you’ll already understand how big of a loss this really was. We buried him next to my grandpa, who passed away four years ago, this spot was saved for one of uncles but decided it was best that Jon be closer to my grandpa so that he may lead and take care of Jon in the after life.
Our family has been sad and depressed a few days after he passed away, but we’ve been spending a lot of time together and getting into more of the accepting phase. We’ve been really supportive and keeping my aunt and uncle busy by offering our company throughout the day. This past Saturday on April 11th we had his funeral and it was truly amazing how many friends and family showed up. I estimated around 300-400 people all different ages that attended. It was one of the biggest turnouts the cemetary church has seen in the past year. This alone just proves how popular, friendly, and outgoing Jon was, just truly amazing at the young age of 18 how many connections with his peers he already made.
This recent tragedy has been the main reason why I haven’t been logging as many as hours as I usually do playing poker and also the reason why I haven’t been updating my blog. Just been really busy spending time with family in such an eminant time. I want to share with all of you my eulogy that I read at the funeral service because I wrote it straight from my heart and want people to remember Jon’s name. Even if you didn’t know Jon Sailgumba personally please give a prayer for him and also say a prayer for his mom and dad as well. Thanks for taking the time to read this and remember there once lived a kid named Jonathon Saligumba and he was a great person.
Beauty Defined by Fate Where to begin? How do we start picking apart the foundation of a promising kid like Jonathon? Let’s start with a simple smile. Almost all of my fondest memories of Jon was by constantly elevated cheek bones and a display of pearly white teeth. Smiled so much it was borderline sinful. This isn’t any ordinary smile either, like the forceful ones you mask during a single-shot photo, these were genuine smiles that had a subliminal message screaming “I love my life and I am at peace with myself!”. This joyful energy that radiated from him was highly contagious and manipulative. Let’s zoom in, natural physical talent fused with an immense passion and a knack for competition molded Jon into such a dynamic athlete. From slapping amazing shots in hockey, to clean crossovers in hoops, evasive maneuvering in paintball competitions, or smooth footwork expressed in his dancing. Undoubtedly, his intelligence was up to par with his physical talents, Jon was as universal as you can get. Throw in a loving family, great friends, a beautiful girlfriend, a willingly supportive father, and an amazing mother that truly gave him the world, this you will see comprised his larger than life heart. It wasn’t that his heart wasn’t strong enough for him, it was that he was too strong and talented of a person for his heart to handle.
Where are you now Jon? Are you alone? Are you scared? I had a great vision the other day. I imagined Papa awaiting to embrace you as you enter this newfound life. After a long comforting hug, expressing to you that you will never be alone, he grabs your hand and escorts you through the gates of Heaven. Jon is no longer alone. You walk side by side, hand in hand, along this path with the most divine and surreal scenery. In the distance, you are approaching what seems to be an illustrious house. The closer you get the more you come to realization, Papa has already begun to build his kingdom here with his bare hands as he did in his past life, starting with this home. He has wasted no time in making sure we have a place to call home for when we all arrive as time destines us to be all together again. Jon is no longer scared. As you arrive to the front gate of the house, Papa opens the front gate for you to enter, and as you stroll down the walkway to the front door you look to your left and to the right. You couldn’t help notice the beautiful garden that Papa has nourished since he has arrived, you give a little smirk and think to yourself “some things never change”. As you enter the front door of the graceful house, Papa says “I have a surprise for you, my anak (Tagalog for son)”. He leads you through the house and straight to the backyard, there you see a huge slab of concrete which looks like to be the foundation of a basketball court and a roller hockey rink. You look up at Papa’s stern but yet so gentle eyes and he looks down to you and says, “This is your new home now anak, this is where you will find peace, this is where you will be safe, and this is where we will wait.”
Beauty defined by Fate, right Jon?
