In Loving Memory of Tony

My name is Meilene Vera Cruz. My brother Mervyn and I are setting up this page because our father Tony passed away on Friday , Feb 4th due to covid and severe pneumonia. The funds gathered will help cover some of the hospital fees and funeral costs. It has been the toughest times of our lives.

 

After a week of initially being treated in the hospital, our father's condition worsened and he had to be transferred to the ICU, where he spent another 2 weeks. The doctor explained that, because his oxygen levels were not improving, he would need to be intubated and placed on a ventilator. That meant that they had to sedate and put him on paralytic medication. He even gave us a thumbs up and told us, “see you when I wake up”. Little did we know that this would be the last time that we would get to hear his voice. What followed was a two week emotional rollercoaster, with each update that the hospital gave our family. The hardest part was that, because of hospital policy due to covid, we were physically unable to be at my father’s side while he was fighting for his life. All of our interactions with him, while he was in the hospital, was through FaceTime.

 

Friday, February 4th was supposed to be our first day that we were to visit him at the hospital. We were ready to go! And a fateful call came in from the hospital at 12:15pm. We were told to rush to the hospital because our father was dying. We frantically raced down to the hospital. It seemed as though the traffic lights were against us and it felt like forever to get there. We ran in the lobby and they knew…they knew who we were and why we were there, it was like one of those movie scenes. They let us skip hospital protocol, and let us in and we ran into the elevators. The elevator doors opened and the nursing staff hurriedly helped us gown up in PPEs before we entered room 23. It was a surreal moment. Time seemed to have slowed down. Everyone and everything was moving in sort of a slow motion way. The sound of our mother sobbing filled our ears and broke our hearts.

With gloved hands, she held his face, touched his hands and moved them across his chest as if she was trying to rouse him…for him to open his eyes because this couldn’t be real. We were all in denial, we were in shock. But our dad just remained there on his hospital bed, unmoving, with all sorts of tubes and wires attached to him. We all had our final moments with him. Telling him that we loved him, asking him not to leave us and expressing our last regrets. But sadly we were told that he already passed just a few minutes before we arrived there. But we knew he heard us. He had to have heard us…pools of tears accumulated in the inner parts of his eyes, and streamed down the side of his face when we were saying our goodbyes. He was pronounced on February 4th, 2022 at 12:44pm.

 

Our father, Tony was the fourth of 15 children of the Vera Cruz clan. They are dispersed from the Philippines, United States and Micronesia. He loved to travel to other countries and always led the driving when the travels were stateside. This is where he created bonds of friendship during his travels for work and pleasure.

 

People reached out asking his family if there are ways to honor, contribute and praise him if they weren’t able to attend the services. It was suggested to us to create a GoFundMe account. And so, this was created in his honor.

 

He was a devoted Christian and held an active role at International Church of Praise until his passing. He was an accountant by trade, a faithful friend to many and a loving brother and son. He was a great father to his children Mervyn and Meilene, he was an even better grandfather to his grandchildren, Jhasmyne (his favorite) Dimitri (his pride) and Delylah (his joy). We all competed to be his “favorite.” And we all know our mom was the love of his life.

 

Dad, Thank You! Thank you for your sacrifices, your patience, dedication and sheer determination but most of all your love. You are a caring and gentle soul who showed us humility, love and compassion. There aren’t enough words to describe how a great person you are.