The ashes of Elias Cayanong, former director of the Department of Labor and Employment in Central Visayas, was brought to his home in Barangay Bacayan, Cebu City after he was cremated. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
CEBU CITY — “We will serve you forever.”
This was the promise made by three brothers to their 92-year-old mother who was diagnosed with brain and lung cancer.
And they literally made good on their vow.
Less than a week after the matriarch passed away last June 8, her three sons also died -– two were confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), while the other was a suspect because he was never tested.
Emmanuel Cayanong, a retired nurse; and Elias Cayanong, former director of the Department of Labor and Employment in Central Visayas, were rushed to separate hospitals here on June 10.
Emmanuel, 64, the second in a brood of eight, had trouble breathing in the morning of June 10 and was brought to the intensive care unit of the Cebu Doctors’ Hospital, where he was intubated.
In the afternoon of the same day, Elias, 68, the eldest among the siblings, also had difficulty breathing and had to be confined at the Perpetual Succor Hospital.
Emmanuel eventually died of cardiac arrest on June 12 while Elias passed away due to kidney failure the next day.
Eliseo Cayanong, the youngest among the siblings, just went home after their mother’s burial on June 14, when he could also hardly breathe.
He was brought to Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City.
Since the hospital was full of patients, he had to wait inside the ambulance. After two hours, Eliseo, in his 50s, had cardiac arrest and died.
All three siblings were immediately cremated after their deaths.
“We are at a loss. The series of deaths were so shocking. We haven’t finished grieving over aunt’s death yet and here came three more deaths,” said Gloria Guanzon-Manalang, a cousin of the Cayanong siblings.
Five other Cayanong siblings—two in the United States, two in Canada, and a doctor in Mindanao—were not able to return home due to the travel restrictions caused by the pandemic.
Swab test results released after their deaths showed that Emmanuel and Elias had COVID-19.
Eliseo and their mother Concepcion were not tested.
Manalang said Emmanuel, Elias, and Eliseo served their mother, especially when the latter was in her sickbed.
Emmanuel, a retired nurse, was his mother’s companion in Canada where she was based for about 30 years.
In November 2019, Concepcion and Emmanuel went home in Barangay Zapatera, Cebu City for a vacation.
Aside from Emmanuel, Concepcion was also taken care of by Eliseo, who had been doing the necessary errands for the family in Cebu City.
Elias, on one hand, decided to temporarily leave his own family in Barangay Bacayan, also in Cebu City, last January to be with his mother in Barangay Zapatera.
“Daddy (Elias) loved Lola (Concepcion) as well as his siblings very much. That was why he decided to live with Lola for the remaining days of her life,” said Elias’ daughter, Imadyl.
Elias, she said, was also recently diagnosed with stage one lung cancer.
Last June 1, Concepcion experienced vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of appetite.
While attending to their mother, the three brothers developed fever.
When she died in their presence inside their home on June 8, they all thought it was due to cancer. A weeklong wake was held at a funeral parlor.
Eliseo Cayanong (left) and Emmanuel Cayanong (right) accompany their mother Concepcion in a church in Lapu-Lapu City in this 2017 photo. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
But two days after their mother died, Emmanuel and Elias could not breath and were brought to separate hospitals where they died on June 12.
Eliseo died on June 14 after complaining of difficulty breathing.
The entire family was simply devastated by the turn of events.
“How did COVID-19 get into our lives? The family is terrified. We could not believe it,” said Manalang.
She said they did everything to save the lives of the four family members, including praying the rosary online so other family members in other parts of the country and abroad can join.
“But God knows better than us,” Manalang said.
She appealed to the local government to step up efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Cebu City, the only locality in the country that was reverted to a stricter enhanced community quarantine last June 16, due to the continued rise in the number of cases, as well as its problem in providing critical healthcare assistance to patients.
“There’s always fear because this (COVID-19) is something new to everybody. We could not totally blame the government, but I must say that the rise in the number of cases could have been prevented if only they can do more,” she said.
As of June 17, the Philippines had a total of 27,238 cases with 1,108 deaths. Cebu City had the highest number of coronavirus infections in the country with 4,015 cases and 48 fatalities.
If there was one bright spot that stood out during their ordeal, she said it must be the love their family has for each other.
“This family is so close. This is a family full of love. The care the siblings gave to their mother was all out. In fact, the three of them, who were at their mom’s side before she died, promised to serve her forever. True enough, they fulfilled their promise. It’s just unfortunate that they did it even beyond death,” Manalang said.
LZB