Help Us Honor Mom's Final Wish in Vietnam

My mom, Luom "Kim" Francisco, passed away last week on February 19th. She passed away within a week of getting influenza A. She had been in a nursing home for the past 8 years due to having a stroke and needing full-time care.

Many of you don't know much about my past but my parents met and were married in Vietnam. My dad was drafted for the Vietnam War at 18 years old and served his time of 3 years. When he came home to the US in 1969, he was not treated well and he actually went back to Vietnam to work as an engineer. That is when he met my mom. They married and my brother was born in Vietnam in 1972 and when my mom was 8 months pregnant with me they had to leave Vietnam. They came to the US and settled in Lincoln in 1973 and I was born. My sister came along 5 years later.

My mom is number 8 of 13 siblings, and is the only one in her family that has been in the US. She only visited a few times in 50+ years since she left. When my dad passed away eleven years ago my mom spent some time in Vietnam. Her last trip was 8 years ago when she had a massive stroke and we had to send one of her friends over there to transport her back to the US. It took a week but she got back here in Lincoln where she has been at Holmes Lake Rehab since then.

Her family in Vietnam wishes and we would like to take her ashes back to Vietnam to have the funeral services and bury her with my grandparents. I'm not good at asking anything for myself, but we are trying to raise the money to take the entire American family over to have a family memorial. None of us have ever been to Vietnam. There are five in my family, four in my brother’s family, and three in my sister’s family. We will have a simple memorial here in Lincoln and then make travel plans to Vietnam.