There is so much human suffering in our islands, it gets hard to comprehend the immensity of mercy, kindness, and charity needed to turn people’s pain and tears into joy and security. One act of charity at a time. That is the only solution I can offer in these very trying times.
I remember in early 2020 before the pandemic began, my beloved dog Dori suffered a stroke and I didn’t have the money to pay for her veterinary care. I sucked up all my pride and started a GoFundMe, and thanks to so many of you, you gave me the money to keep her living until she succumbed to her next stroke. Since then, I have had a special place in my heart for these local GoFundMe fundraisers (while trying to discern which are real against the rare scams).
This weekend I watched this Instagram reel on Joanne Pablo’s profile about her husband, Chase Duenas, who earlier this month was in a horrific car accident. By the Grace of our Lord, he survived, but he needs off island surgery, and his family needs to raise $60,000 to begin to defray the associated costs.
They are a young family, with three young daughters surviving on his income from the U.S. Postal Service. My dad worked at USPS, and I know for a fact that if he was unable to work after exhausting his leave hours, we would have been in a lot of trouble.
Ms. Pablo’s plea is heartbreaking:
“On January 10, 2025 (#Guam Time, January 9, stateside time) I received an alarming text message from my hubbys phone. The text notified me that he was in an accident. Since I was an emergency contact on his #iphone it alerted me that he got into an accident, the location of the crash, and even called 911 for him. At the time, I was in California for work and was frantically trying to get a hold of him, praying it wasn’t serious. I called his family and my friends to try and check on him since I couldn’t get a hold of him and I was so far away. I sent them the location, and they followed the directions and saw the crash. Chase was on his way to work when an Orange Jeep Wrangler veered into his lane and collided head on. Chase was seriously injured; fractured his ribs, left leg, right arm, left finger, both collar bones, sternum, spinal, and nose. He had surgery on his arm, and needs to go off island for another surgery for his leg. Since Guam does not have the medical equipment needed to perform the surgery, he has to go to the Philippines (since it’s a shorter flight time). Kindly asking for your #generosity to donate, even a small amount to help with the medical expenses. If it is not the right time to donate, please kindly help share the #gofundme link. Thank you so much.”
Here is the link: https://gofund.me/08df5d2c
