mojo
01-26-2002, 12:59 PM
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/bonpua25.htm
Published Friday, Jan. 25, 2002, in the San Jose Mercury News
TORCHBEARER KEPT FLAME BURNING UNTIL THE END
BY DENNIS KNIGHT
Mercury News
Louie Bonpua was in a race for his life.
Doctors told the 37-year-old from Milpitas he had as few as four days to live, but Bonpua planned to carry the Olympic torch in three.
Weak but in high spirits, he completed the two-tenths of a mile trek Saturday in San Francisco. After passing the flame, Bonpua said goodbye to his loved ones, returned to his hospital room, fell asleep and lapsed into a coma. He never woke up.
Early Tuesday, he was pronounced dead.
``He was really happy on Saturday,'' his sister Aggie said. ``He was so glad that it brought his family and friends together.''
Bonpua lost his battle with a form of leukemia. His doctors at Kaiser suggested last week that he wouldn't be strong enough to participate in the torch relay.
But ``Shrimp Louie'' -- as his sister affectionately called him -- would have none of it.
It was just months ago that he completed his first Ironman Triathlon, so Bonpua was determined to enjoy his day in the Olympic spotlight. So determined, he concocted a plan to sneak out of the hospital to make the ceremony -- he even had a friend who was an ambulance driver in on the scheme, his sister said.
The escape plan was set aside when a doctor decided to allow him to carry the torch. An ambulance picked him up at Kaiser-Santa Clara hospital at 4 a.m. Saturday and took him to San Francisco, stopping at another hospital along the way to pick up some morphine to ease his pain.
He was supposed to be pushed in a wheelchair, but, inspired by cheers of support, he got up and took the most challenging steps of his life.
Bonpua, a program manager for Cadence Design Systems in San Jose, was diagnosed in 1997 with chronic myelogenous leukemia, and within a year dropped from 150 pounds to 92. He couldn't walk on his own, his sister said.
But her brother was a fighter. A bone marrow donor match is hard to find, and even harder for Asian-Americans like Bonpua, so he started taking an experimental drug called Gleevec, which seemed to keep his white blood cell count in check.
Bonpua became involved with the Team-in-Training Program, a fundraising arm of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in which people receive training for endurance events in exchange for raising money for the cause.
He got his weight back up to 150 pounds and began competing in triathlons. He attempted his first Ironman Triathlon -- a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile marathon run -- in British Columbia in August. Five days before that race, Bonpua received a blood transfusion and chemotherapy treatment.
The race has a 17-hour time limit -- and as midnight approached Bonpua neared the finish line surrounded by spectators chanting, ``Louie! Louie!''
With arms raised, he finished in 16 hours, 56 minutes and 30 seconds. The next day he was awarded the Ironman Spirit Award.
``He was a very determined man,'' Aggie Bonpua said, ``and was an inspiration for a lot of people.''
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more info on this man, his web link, and leukemia available at the link above
Published Friday, Jan. 25, 2002, in the San Jose Mercury News
TORCHBEARER KEPT FLAME BURNING UNTIL THE END
BY DENNIS KNIGHT
Mercury News
Louie Bonpua was in a race for his life.
Doctors told the 37-year-old from Milpitas he had as few as four days to live, but Bonpua planned to carry the Olympic torch in three.
Weak but in high spirits, he completed the two-tenths of a mile trek Saturday in San Francisco. After passing the flame, Bonpua said goodbye to his loved ones, returned to his hospital room, fell asleep and lapsed into a coma. He never woke up.
Early Tuesday, he was pronounced dead.
``He was really happy on Saturday,'' his sister Aggie said. ``He was so glad that it brought his family and friends together.''
Bonpua lost his battle with a form of leukemia. His doctors at Kaiser suggested last week that he wouldn't be strong enough to participate in the torch relay.
But ``Shrimp Louie'' -- as his sister affectionately called him -- would have none of it.
It was just months ago that he completed his first Ironman Triathlon, so Bonpua was determined to enjoy his day in the Olympic spotlight. So determined, he concocted a plan to sneak out of the hospital to make the ceremony -- he even had a friend who was an ambulance driver in on the scheme, his sister said.
The escape plan was set aside when a doctor decided to allow him to carry the torch. An ambulance picked him up at Kaiser-Santa Clara hospital at 4 a.m. Saturday and took him to San Francisco, stopping at another hospital along the way to pick up some morphine to ease his pain.
He was supposed to be pushed in a wheelchair, but, inspired by cheers of support, he got up and took the most challenging steps of his life.
Bonpua, a program manager for Cadence Design Systems in San Jose, was diagnosed in 1997 with chronic myelogenous leukemia, and within a year dropped from 150 pounds to 92. He couldn't walk on his own, his sister said.
But her brother was a fighter. A bone marrow donor match is hard to find, and even harder for Asian-Americans like Bonpua, so he started taking an experimental drug called Gleevec, which seemed to keep his white blood cell count in check.
Bonpua became involved with the Team-in-Training Program, a fundraising arm of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in which people receive training for endurance events in exchange for raising money for the cause.
He got his weight back up to 150 pounds and began competing in triathlons. He attempted his first Ironman Triathlon -- a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile marathon run -- in British Columbia in August. Five days before that race, Bonpua received a blood transfusion and chemotherapy treatment.
The race has a 17-hour time limit -- and as midnight approached Bonpua neared the finish line surrounded by spectators chanting, ``Louie! Louie!''
With arms raised, he finished in 16 hours, 56 minutes and 30 seconds. The next day he was awarded the Ironman Spirit Award.
``He was a very determined man,'' Aggie Bonpua said, ``and was an inspiration for a lot of people.''
--------------------
more info on this man, his web link, and leukemia available at the link above