Mateo Jack Lafoga Theorine

SPRING GLEN – Mateo Jack Lafoga Theorine returned home to his Heavenly Father and his Papa, December 19, 2008 after passing away peacefully in his sleep at the young age of 22 months.
Mateo was born February 1, 2007 in Price, Utah, to James Victor Theorine II and Malia Mei Laulu and his big brother James (Kimo) Victor Theorine III. Mateo was a pillar of light to all that knew him. His beautiful smile and his golden locks of hair was just a tiny glimpse of our fun loving little boy. Mateo loved his family and his many friends, and loved to share kisses and hugs and the occasional love tap with all of them. Though very young, Mateo loved sports, any kind of balls, four-wheelers, daddy’s motorcycle, the trampoline, dancing and most of all his binky.
Mateo was a very happy and energetic little boy who loved others unconditionally. He was always a comforter for those that needed comforting, and would be the first to stand up in a fist fight, but would always love you better when he was done beating you up.
Mateo loved to go bye-bye. He loved to get his coat and shoes on, and be the first one ready for any adventure. He was often found being curious and self-entertained. Mateo embraced his cultures, and loved the music of his cultures and would express his love by dancing. Mateo was not a little man of many words, but always knew how to express to anyone what he wanted, whether it was him pointing and grunting, or leading you right to what he wanted.
Mateo was preceded in death by his papa Lafoga Laulu Jr. Mateo is survived by his mom and dad, Malia Mei Laulu and James Victor Theorine II, his brother James (Kimo) Victor Theorine III, his grandparents, Patricia Laulu, James Victor Theorine, Annalillia Guiterrez , his aunts and uncles, Sulika (Scott) Merrell, Juan (Ann) Theorine, Rebecca (Jason Ochoa) Laulu, Perry Laulu, his cousins, Kalani Vai Laulu, Sai’peti Epomaikaimaikeakuaokalaniikeiaohanaalii Merrell, Graciann Marie Theorine and many of his extended family and friends that love him very dearly.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 11 a.m. at the Price 4th – 5th Ward Building, 380 East 400 North – Price, UT. A viewing will be Monday, December 22, 2008 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Fausett Mortuary, 680 East 100 South in Price and Tuesday from 10 to 10:45 a.m. at the church prior to the services. Interment will be in the Cliffview Cemetary.

Helper Light Parade

So this weekend, we as a family, we were in the 19th Annual Helper Light Parade!!! It was really fun.

We decided to do a Cancer Awareness float and called it "This Christmas, Celebrte Life" and did it in memory of my dad.

We decorated my truck with lights, and put up a tree in the back that we decorated with the different colors of ribbons that represent the different kinds of cancer. Orange is the color that represented Leukemia, so of coarse we kinda made that color a little bit bigger and brighter!



We all also wore shirts that said "Cancer Sucks" with the girls in orange and the the boys in white. Sunny made us some bright orange scarfs and got us some reindeer antlers that lite up and sang!
It was really cold, but really fun! The little boys loved it too!

Thanksgiving, Laulu Style!!!!

Thanksgiving this year was a hard one, yet at the same time, we were able to focus on some of the positive, so that was good!

Scott decided that he was going to run the 5K Huntington City Turkey Trot. This is Sai, wishing his daddy good luck!


Something to kinda help the boys (and us grown ups too!) was to send Dad letters and pictures via ballons.


So we all drew a picture and and little notes and sent them off to dad, attatched to some ballons, and watched until dad came down from heaven and got the notes!

Actually the boys really liked the whole idea, and really liked that dad got thier pictures and letters.


Kimo and Kalani decided that they were gonna draw some of papa's favorite things, like BYU Football and Motorcycles!






Here are the boys as they watching the ballons fly away, they all lined up on the 4 wheeler, and we couldnt help but want some pictures!


And here was the elephant ride, later on after we had pie! Sai and Kalani thought it was pretty cool! I thought it ws pretty cool that Scott still had the energy to be the elephant! Let alone with Kalani on there too!

Dad's Last Goodbye!

The viewing and the funeral turned out to be a wonderful experience! We will miss dad a ton but it was good to see soooo many people come and show thier love and respect! It was a wonderful tribute to dad to have so many people there! Lots of family came from all over the US, and lots a friends! We loved seeing everyone!
Again I wanted to thank the family for all of the love and support you all showed by coming to the funeral, for keeping us in your prayers! We truly appreciate everything that everyone has done for us! What a beautiful tribute the funeral was to my father! I could never thank everyone enough. It was so good seeing everyone, I only wish that we could have had enough time to sit down and visit with everyone.

Here are some of the pictures that were taken at the gravesite I thought people might like to see!

Lafoga Laulu Jr. 1951-2008

Price, UT - Lafoga Laulu Jr. died November 2, 2008 after a short battle with Leukemia.
Lafoga was born October 4, 1951 in Mapusaga, American Samoa to Pelu Pelu Laulu and Lesina Fuimaono.
He married the one true love of his life, Patricia Elaine Perry, on June 8, 1974, in the LDS Los Angeles Temple.
Lafoga was a true example of a person who had Christ-like attributes.
He was survived my his wife Patricia Elaine Perry, Children: Sulika (Scott) Merrell, Malia (Jim) Theorine, Rebecca (Jason Ochoa) Laulu, & Perry Laulu. His parents Pelu Pelu Laulu & Lesina Fuimaono, Sulika (Iosefa) Toia, Mei (Ramese) Maiava, Mateo (Ata) Laulu. His grandsons Kalani Vai Laulu, James Victor Theorine III, Mateo Jack Lafoga, & Sai'peti Epomaikaimaikeakuaokalaniikeiaohanaalii Merrell.
A viewing will be help Friday November 7, 2008 6-8 at the Fausett Mortuary 680 E 100 S Price, UT 84501. An additional veiwing will be held Saturday November 8, 2008 9-10:45 followed by the funeral service at 11 at the Price Stake Center, 150 S 500 East Price, UT 84501.

Its Time

Today at 4:06 am, my father passed away. It was very peaceful, and in his sleep, just the way he wanted it. I will put more information as it comes up. We are soo relieved that he is NOT suffering anymore, but will miss him with all our hearts! Love you Dad!

Tappin for Fluid

Here are a couple of pictures of Dad getting his stomach tapped for fluid. They were able to get 6 liters of fluid off of him, which is really good because it made him more comfortable. It was really neat to watch the whole procedure!
Dad is still not doing real well. He is still receiving dialysis. But not feeling the best.

Dialysis

We started dialysis today! Dad’s liver just isn’t doin well at all and will not work, therefore making hard for the kidneys to work at all, and all of the toxins are building up in his blood making him feel like he has the worst flu ever, and also making him disoriented! For those of you that don’t know what dialysis is, it is where they pump your blood through a machine and filter out all of the bad toxins, and just put back in the good stuff. The bad thing with that is that dialysis makes you very tired, and just worn out.
The doctors are still trying to out smart his body, but so far they are having no luck, and it seems that dad just keeps getting sicker and sicker. Hopefully we will know more of what is going on tomorrow or the next day. His body just will not respond to the chemo therapy and they are not sure just what it will respond to. Dad is still fighting though, so that is a good sign!

Update on Dad

Here is a picture of Dad, Sai and Mom. Sai was way jealous cuz Dad was eating a popsicle. I know the picture is bad, but its what I have!
Just recently, Dad's Doctors wanted to move Dad to the ICU at the U of U Hospital. Reason being was Dad's blood pressure has been extremely low the last week, and Tuesday night, it dropped to 86/44, which is way too low. So far they have been able to bring up his blood pressure a little bit, to where it is not so much of a risk, but it is still reading really low! But hopefully they can balance that along with the Chemo, the infection, and keeping his lungs working well! Poor guy!

Big Weekend at Huntsmans!!!

So it was a big weekend at the hospital this weekend!LOTS of family came out to show some support! Dad wasnt able to visit with a lot of them! Best of all, Gramma and Papa Laulu came with Aunty Sulika and Uncle Joe. It was really good to see them! We were also able to visit with family from Salt Lake, St. George, American Fork, California, and even Hawaii! Aunty Tuaoi came and even brought some Pulini (a samoan dessert) and snuck some in to dad, and he LOVED IT! Saturday, all of us kids (Me, Scott, Sai'peti, Malia, Jim, Kimo, Mateo, Rebecca, Jason, Kalani, Perry & Brooke!) came to celebrate dad's 57th birthday. Dad celebrated by getting Chemo, while all the kids and mom ate! Yeah we are a bunch of fat kids! Sunday, Perry and I stuck around, to keep mom company, and visit with more family! Some of the family has a singing group, and they came by to sing for dad, and did a wonderful job! But you know us, we are always beng crazy! After everyone left, we convinced Perry to do the Thizzle Dance for us, and we cracked up BIG TIME!

Dad

Some people have been wondering what is ultimately wrong with my dad, and here is the down low . . .
Dad was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia last year in August. Ususally this type of Leukemia is managable, but not cure-able. It is managed by Chemo therapy.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a cancer of the white blood cells and bone marrow. The bone marrow is the spongy inner part of bones where blood cells are produced. White blood cells arise from the marrow and circulate in the blood. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is characterized by uncontrolled growth of blood cells.

Back in June Dad was undergoing Chemo Therapy, and was not scheduled for another 3 months. For some unknown reason his CLL grew out of control, which was causing him some liver problems. He did not feel well and went into the hospital because he had signs of jaundice, and was not feeling well. He was admitted to the hospital, and then contracted pneumonia. After a week in the hospital in Price, he was tranfered to the Huntsmans Cancer Center in Salt Lake City. There they were treating him for the pneumonia and also trying to gain control again of his CLL. He continued to get really sick as they began, but now we think they are on the right track.
Dad is still really sick, but he is a fighter. He is recieving Chemo Therapy, which makes his immune system obsolete, but so far so good! He has really dont well! His jaundice levels are still really high (which make his skin and eyes a yellowish color!), but all of his other levels are begining to do better! Like the doctor said, "We're not out of the woods, but right now we can see the edge!"

We will try this one too!