All for Bobby

Just a little over a month ago, our brother Bobby Thongkham was diagnosed with liver cancer.  On Tuesday April 23, 2019, he underwent surgery to remove the cancer. Upon his biopsy results, the doctors also found some characteristics of a tumor between his temple and forehead. The biopsy for that new finding is currently pending.

Bobby is the only son to his dad (Oak Thongkham) and mom (Axay Thongkham), a brother to his three sisters (Bay, Noy, and Bee) and an uncle to his oldest sister's two sons (Preston and Parker). Though he was uprooted when his entire family migrated from Laos, he found his new home in San Diego and would graduate from the University of California San Diego. He began his career as a social worker for several years and would later find his true calling. He formed his own label/production team called Collective Society and is the main director/photographer as well as one of the artists on the label. They quickly would create a buzz in the San Diego hip-hop scene and would get booked to perform at different venues, do collaborations with many out of town and local artists, and release a couple of albums and singles.  After some deliberation, he decided to follow his heart by taking a leap of faith by quitting his 9-5 to pursue his passion for music, photography and videography. 

After a slow and bumpy start, he would finally gain momentum to became a sought after freelancer photographer and music video director. His hard work would finally pay off after he landed a gig as one of the video shooters for Jokoy's comedy tour in San Diego. From there, the doors opened up and flooded him with opportunities. He would get booked on the daily to do photo-shoots, direct music videos, and was in the process of recording and shooting music videos for several of his original songs. It then landed him a job with OKIR Publishing becoming one of the main videographers/directors/photographer for the company. It gave him the opportunity to travel the world through the lens of his camera from his perspective. He was fortunate to be able to live his dream. And as if he wasn’t busy enough, he would still find the time to spend it with his family and watch over his two nephews.

Due to this unfortunate circumstance, Bobby had to put his dreams on hold and has been unable to bring in a steady paycheck. With these added medical expenses, we humbly ask for your support with monetary donations.  No amount is too small, every bit counts.  We thank you all in advance for your generosity and are deeply grateful for your thoughtfulness.  All proceeds will go directly to Bobby’s family.

With love and blessings,

The Collective Society Family