Lemuel’s Fight Against Liposarcoma

Hello, my name is Stephanie Tran and I am starting this GoFundMe to help support one of my dearest friends, Lemuel, his wife, Lorrain, and their four children: 20 year-old Nicole, 9-year-old Samuel, 3-year-old Reuel, and Miguel, who is only 22-month-old.

Lemuel Guiyab was born in Manila, Philippines and is a kind-hearted soul and an impassioned chef. He established Silog, a Filipino restaurant in Torrance, California, which is widely recognized as highlighting the best of Filipino culture through the shared experience of food. It’s no surprise that Silog has been recognized as one of Eater’s 19 most essential Filipino destinations in Los Angeles. Lemuel has said himself that his secret recipe is taking action, even in moments of great hardship.

His restaurant, like many others, struggled to keep its lights on during the height of the pandemic, but it didn’t stop Lemuel from supporting frontline workers by preparing and delivering food. One day, I had suggested that he would support the staff who worked long hours at Long Beach Memorial Hospital and within a week, he had prepared and delivered meals to the day-shift and night-shift workers who tirelessly labored in the ICU.

I was touched by Lemuel’s selflessness and generosity, so I asked around for donations to keep his business afloat while the meals provided to the frontliners. Instead of keeping the donations for his own needs, he used the funds to continue to provide meals to the hospital workers all throughout the major hospitals in LA county, including: UCLA Harbor Hospital, Lakewood Hospital, Providence Little Company of Mary Hospital, Gardena Memorial Hospital, Centinela Hospital, Martin Luther King Community Hospital Long Beach Veterans Hospital, and Torrance Memorial Hospital. He has been recognized by the California State Assembly Officers for his amazing contributions to the community during Pandemic.

In March 2022, he developed an ongoing cough and sudden weight loss. He was diagnosed with bronchitis and had a chest x-ray done. The x-ray was unremarkable. However, during that time he started to notice a lump on his abdomen and went to his PCP for further evaluation. He then had a CT scan of the abdomen which revealed a large mass measuring 15 by 20 cm. He was referred for a biopsy and it was confirmed that he has sarcoma, a very rare type of cancer that account for less than 1% of all type of cancers around the world.

On May 16th 2022, Lemuel underwent an extensive surgery. His surgeons worked diligently from start to finish without taking any breaks in between. After the surgery, the family was informed that Lemuel has a very aggressive and high-grade retroperitoneal liposarcoma. The cancer had already spread to his right kidney, pancreas, and colons. Lemuel was in the operating room for 9 hours. He had a radical resection of the giant peritoneal sarcoma, resection of the right colon, and removal of the right kidney. Furthermore, the surgeons had to perform the Whipple procedure, which is a complex operation to remove the head of the pancreas, the first part of the small intestine (duodenum), the gallbladder and the bile duct. The surgeons had expressed that Lemuel’s case was one of the most difficult cases they have ever encountered and operated on. Once Lemuel recovers from surgery, he needs to start chemotherapy as soon as possible.    

As of Sunday May 22, 2022, Lemuel is still in critical condition and remains intubated in the ICU. He is having complications after surgery. There is bile leakage in this abdomen, which he will be going to intervention radiology for drainage. His vital signs are not stable and the doctors had to place him on vasopressors to prevent his blood pressure from dropping so low. He also went to ventricular fibrillation—a life-threatening heart arrhythmia—several times.

Lemuel is a hard-working father, a loving husband, and a caring son and brother. He has given so much to the community during tough time of the pandemic without a second thought. It is no doubt that Lemuel and his family have a long and turbulent journey ahead of them, therefore, I am asking anyone who is touched by his inspiring story to help him on this journey and battle with this aggressive cancer.

Once again, I urge that if you are in any way moved by Lemuel’s story that you please donate. Any donation is greatly appreciated and can be truly essential for Lemuel and his family. Thank you so much in advance for your thoughts, prayers, and donations, and I will provide updates as regularly as I can.

With Love,

Stephanie