EULOGY BY JOSEPH GUEVARRA

Patrick
[being the eulogy I might have given, had I been asked to give one]
To be honest, I’ve only met Patrick twice in recent memory. I don’t really get a lot of chances to see him, being his second cousin and all.

The first time was around four years ago, around the time I was starting high school. That was when I’d first found out about his cancer, and at the time I thought, “I’m sure he’ll get better soon.” He was still pretty chubby back then, and I left with the confidence of optimism.

Time went by, and I slowly put Patrick out of my mind. I talked to him on YM for a while, but that eventually came to an end. I would hear about him occasionally from my dad, but I always thought it was just a matter of time before he would recover, so I could put adding him on Facebook off.

I visited him for the second (and last) time about two weeks ago. He was much thinner then; about as thin as me in fact. I had also heard that he was recently paralyzed, but I wouldn’t have known otherwise: just like four years ago, he was always smiling, which impressed me both times. I heard about what he’d been up to since then, and all I could think was, “Wow, he’s done a lot of living in so short a time.”

Again, I left with high hopes, but they did not come to be.
When I found out Patrick had passed away, my dad showed me his Facebook wall and all the people who had written on it, and I was about to myself – and this is where I regret not adding him when I had the chance.
Because after hearing all your stories about him, I’m even more convinced that Patrick was really something else. Here was a guy life could never break. Four years of cancer and he still had the same smile on his face – how could you top anything like that?

In short, here was a guy who crammed a whole lifetime’s worth of living into sixteen years – and touched a lifetime’s worth of people. Rest in peace, Patrick.
Hope you’re having fun walking around heaven, man.