September 29, 2009

A Call for Help

First of all, thank you so much for your support and all your comments on my last post. I have never seen such an amazing outpouring of support, much of it coming from people who never had the pleasure of meeting Jewelyn. All you have to do is click here to see how many people are thinking of Jewelyn and her family and spreading the word as far and wide as possible.

This little announcement is copied and pasted from here:

As many of you know, our fellow nestie and dear friend, Jewelyn, passed away on Sunday, September 27th due to an amniotic fluid embolism, just hours after giving birth to her first child, Gabrielle.

Gabrielle is doing well and will be released from the NICU this week.

Jewelyn's husband, Philip, is going to need all the help he can get over the coming months and years.

A PO Box has been set up to receive formula checks and diaper coupons. Any and all brands will be accepted, and whatever Philip doesn't use will be donated to the Liz Logelin Foundation.

Formula checks and diaper coupons can be sent to:

Jewelyn Okamoto Memorial Fund
PO Box 235971
Encinitas, CA 92023-5971


***

If you need to put a face to all this, here she is:



She was so excited to be a mom after having had a devastating miscarriage in 2008. We were all so thrilled for her. She was a passionate educator of unruly youngsters. She had the biggest smile. She loved rabbits. She was just a genuinely good, nice person who never had anything bad to say. We called her "sushi" because one of her screennames was sushi 'n' lumpia. To this day, it's hard for me to call her Jewelyn. She'll always be sushi to me.

We love you, sushi! Safe travels, my friend.

***

Thanks, everyone, for all that you've done in the way of support. My last post is still open for comments, and I'm still planning on donating $1 to the fund for each comment I get. Keep 'em coming! And please, keep spreading the word on your own blogs, through Facebook, email, and twitter, and whatever other means you can think of. We all appreciate your efforts so much!

(Photo from here.)

2 comments:

phairhead said...

yr post just brought tears to my eyes. yr a good friend to her, les

Bon said...

wow. i've never been here before, but have chills. i am so sorry for your friend, for her family and her beautiful baby.

things are not always picture perfect. thanks for letting us know about Jewelyn, that she was here.