Saab Magalona honors her daughter through a memorial fund

TV personality and blogger Saab Magalona shared happy news on her Instagram on May 19. 

Although she has lost one of her twins, Saab chooses to move forward and remember her daughter Luna through a memorial fund. 

According to Saab, the fund, through charity institution Kythe and its partner hospital Quirino Memorial Medical Center, will help pay for the staff and materials used in the hospital’s pediatric playroom.  

“All smiles as we honor our angel the best way we can imagine. Together with our family, we started the Luna Isabel Magalona-Bacarro Memorial Fund and we launched our first project with @kythefoundation’s Child Life Program today. Kythe’s long-time partner hospital, Quirino Memorial Medical Center, has named their pediatric playroom after Luna and the fund will help pay for the staff and materials to make sure the children get ample play time. Volunteer and/or donate in cash or kind (toys! activity books! coloring materials!) by visiting kythe.org,” Saab said in her photo’s caption.   

 

All smiles as we honor our angel the best way we can imagine. Together with our family, we started the Luna Isabel Magalona-Bacarro Memorial Fund and we launched our first project with @kythefoundation’s Child Life Program today. Kythe’s long-time partner hospital, Quirino Memorial Medical Center, has named their pediatric playroom after Luna and the fund will help pay for the staff and materials to make sure the children get ample play time. Volunteer and/or donate in cash or kind (toys! activity books! coloring materials!) by visiting kythe.org ❤️

A post shared by Saab Magalona-Bacarro (@saabmagalona) on May 18, 2018 at 8:02pm PDT

Saab lost Luna during childbirth, while her twin Pablo remained in the ICU for a few days. Jim Bacarro, Saab’s husband recently recounted their journey as parents during the ordeal. 

“I learned what it meant to be a father the moment I held my daughter, and had to let her go. It’s not your typical story of parenthood, but Saab and I are beyond convention and that’s our story,” he shared in an Instagram post. 

 

My path to fatherhood wasn’t the most conventional to say the least. We spent more than 2 months in the hospital. After losing our daughter Luna, I didn’t even have time to grieve. I would go between 2 ICUs to see Saab and Pancho. It was a series of tests and “today this is the problem, and we’re not sure what it is, and not sure what to do.” No answers and no proposed solutions. But somehow, each time I entered one of those rooms, Saab and Pancho would give me a burst of hope. I’d come in, Saab would be smiling, just happy to see me while Pancho would do little things to show he was fighting—a little kick, smirk or yawn would make my day. Nothing about this was normal. It was beyond our capacity as humans to deal with such a trial. For so long I wondered where God is in all of this: in tragedy, evil and suffering. I found him there—that somehow Saab and I could manage to kiss each other, smile at each other and comfort one another amidst this. I see him through Pancho. I found God in our parents, siblings and friends who embraced us, wept with us and prayed with us. I found God in kind doctors like Dr. Gap Legaspi who gave us hope. I saw God in all the hard working nurses that went beyond their duty and loved Saab and Pancho. I found God in forgiving those who may have caused this. I learned what it meant to be a father the moment I held my daughter, and had to let her go. It’s not your typical story of parenthood, but Saab and I are beyond convention and that’s our story.

A post shared by Jim Bacarro (@jimbacarro) on May 8, 2018 at 6:28pm PDT