Friends of Tony UpdateNovember/December 2007 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Here's a brief list of those friends who we thank for their special efforts over the past couple of months. Acknowledgements to Friends of Tony
Cathy and Rodger HughesOnce again, a huge thank you to friends Cathy and Rodger Hughes. They have become a lifeline of support for Tony and his family now that they are all together in Nevada. With their professions in the medical field, Cathy, a registered nurse, and Rodger, a radiologist, both have made a commitment to helping Tony find new doctors and offering ongoing medical advisement. Cathy and Rodger have also sought out the assistance of another relative with a legal background to help cut through the government red tape in an effort to expand Tony's Medicaid benefits. Always going beyond the call of duty as friends, the Hughes' are considered to be "family" to the Albanese's. Lloyd and Donna Johnson Lloyd and his wife Donna live in Washington State and they have made it a point to visit Tony every time they've been in the area. 
A friend for over 20 years, Lloyd is a pilot and an FAA certified flight instructor. He met Tony at Fullerton Airport and helped to certify him when he was pursuing his private pilots license there.
Recently, Lloyd took his entire family to see Tony in Nevada and said his family was quite touched by his story. "We are in it with him and will continue to support him the best way we can," explained Lloyd. So much so, that Lloyd and Donna just set up an automatic $50.00 monthly transfer into Tony's account. Lloyd says, "It isn't much, but hope it will help." Growing up with a half-brother who became paralyzed, Lloyd said that he has a "sense of what this kind of life altering event does to family members." While his family was living in Fairbanks, Alaska "back in the 50's," Lloyd's brother Dennis had an accident that left him paralyzed. "To me, I was too young to really help my brother, Dennis, but I can help my brother, Tony." Neciel Talingting Her name is Neciel (pronounced "ne-sel") Talingting. 
She is from the island of Bohol, which is just east of Cebu City and south of Manila in the Philippines.
Almost every night for the last four months, Tony and Neciel have been talking through the Internet using voice chat on Yahoo. They also send each other email and exchange pictures. With their web cams, they've been seeing a lot of each other too.
To Tony, Neciel's name sounds similar enough to think of nacelle (pronounced "na-'sel"), which in airplane terminology, refers to the protective covering over an aircraft engine. And just like their name similarities, Neciel wants to provide her own level of protection by coming to the United States to help take care of Tony. Neciel stays in a boarding house with her two sisters who also work in Cebu. She works at a Japanese restaurant as a waitress, earning 200 pesos per ten-hour day. To put it in perspective about forty-four pesos = one US dollar. Neciel is the oldest of her family of three brothers and three sisters. Tony BaloneyThis section of the Friends of Tony newsletter includes personal stories about Tony Albanese as told by those of us who know him best, his friends and family. These stories include the many facets of Tony's life; from his early formative years to the present day experiences we've shared with him as an "adult."Tony is the consummate perfectionist, a skilled craftsman with extremely high standards for producing only quality work. He's also known for his inventiveness when it comes to getting other people to laugh. For Tony it is all in good fun. No matter how you slice it, the story isn't so much baloney, as it's just him, being our Tony... The latest Tony Baloney contribution comes from Kevin Davis, a lifelong friend of Tony's. They share many interests and are very much like brothers with an unbreakable bond. Kevin recalls a funny story from the early 1970's when he visited Tony after having moved from Whittier with his family to live in Canyon Lake. I went out to Canyon Lake to stay with Tony and his family for a few days. It was a boy's paradise! You could go swimming in the lake, hike in the hills, go rabbit hunting and hitch hike. We actually got our picture and a short story about us hitchhiking in the Canyon Lake Newsletter (see picture below). 
After a few days in Canyon Lake, we were looking for something else to do. As it turned out, in front of Tony's house there was a manhole cover for the storm drains. It is amazing what boys can do with a little time and some tools. We lifted the manhole cover off (probably just because we could!), it was a hole about 40 inches in diameter and 8 feet deep, and it had two drains in the bottom on the sides that were about the width of a roll of toilet paper. We thought it would be a good idea to plug up the drains with toilet paper and fill up the drain with water from the garden hose. A little later on, Tony's mom showed up back at the house to find Tony and me swimming in the hole! The water was pretty dirty and muddy. She just didn't understand why we would want to swim is this dirty water and not in the lake. I assume that everybody that spent anytime with Tony would have similar stories of crazy things "that just happened." Tony's Prayer Circle
Since moving to Nevada, Tony has had a part-time caregiver come by for a couple of hours each day. Her name is Roseanne, and she takes care of the more difficult responsibilities like bathing and dressing Tony. Roseanne also transfers him from bed to his power wheelchair by using a Hoyer Lift. In the evening, Tony's parents have been managing to get him back into bed without any additional assistance.
We ask for everyone's prayers right now to help keep Tony and his parents in good health and in good spirits. Tony is relying on his parents more than ever to provide around-the-clock care for him now that he's mainly being cared for by his family. Thank you for keeping Tony in your thoughts and hearts over these past three years. If you would like to be part of Tony's Prayer Circle, check out the prayer page for more details. Previous Friends-of-Tony UpdatesYou can read previous FriendsOfTony Updates by clicking on the links below.
More Friends of TonyA few more names have been added to the friends page and to the Friends-of-Tony Update email list. These new and old friends are:
Thank you, Steve Albanese FriendsOfTony.com Calendar |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
January 2008
|
February 2008
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Top of the Page |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Home |
Friends |
Fund |
Update In the News | FAQ | Gallery [Sign Tony's Guestbook] |
||
|
Whether by Water, Wings or Wheels ... Life Is A Journey, Not A Destination. |
||