Please share your wonderful messages, stories, memories, and/or pictures of Neal by emailing them to nealaquino@gmail.com. Remember to tell us who you are and how you know Neal.
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If you would like to make a donation to Neal's charity, please send your donation to:
Neal Aquino Memorial Scholarship
Dawn Perrin
UC College of Medicine
Director of Development & Educational Initiatives
(513) 558-2304 or dawn.perrin@uc.edu
Neal Aquino Intern Book Fund
Department of Emergency Medicine
41 Arch Street
Suite 521
Akron, OH 44309
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Neal's family is so thankful to all of you for your continued support through this difficult time. Thanks for all the wonderful thoughts and prayers! Love and peace to all of you!
It was a beautiful day for the Turkey Day Race! There were quite a few people wearing the Neal shirts. I was able to gather some of us together for a picture before the race. I know we all did Neal proud!
Running back into Cincinnati…
We made it!
I invited those that ordered shirts to a pre-race/pick up your shirt party. It was a great way to catch up with everone.
When I started designing the shirts I expected to get maybe 15 orders. Actually I would have been really excited to sell 15 shirts. As the deadline approached I placed my order for 80 shirts. I couldn’t even believe it! It has been so touching to know that so many people still think about, love and miss Neal. Thank you to everyone that ordered a shirt and a big thanks to all of you that also donated money. The shirt project was a BIG success!
Hello All!
My good friend Christy had a really great idea to run the Annual Thanksgiving Day Race in my brother’s honor. Neal ran this race almost every year and he always tried to get as many people as he could to run with him. Christy also thought of having shirts made and I actually found a place in town that will print them. I was just writing to see who would be interested in buying a shirt. The more people that want one, the cheaper it will be. You don’t even have to run the race or live in Cincinnati to get one. If you are interested, please email me how many you want and what sizes. I’m currently working on the design and as soon as I have something worth showing, I’ll pass it along. Please send this to anyone else you think would like to be involved!
Hope to hear from you soon!
Thanks!
Aileen Aquino
aquinoama@gmail.com
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
One Year Anniversary
……………
I’m Free
Don’t grieve for me, for now I’m free; I’m following the path God laid for me.
I took His hand when I heard Him call; I turned my back and left it all.
I could not stay another day; To laugh, to love, to work or play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way; I found that place at the close of day.
If my parting has left a void; Then fill it with remembered joy.
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss; Ah yes, these things, I too, will miss.
Be not burdened with times of sorrow; I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My life’s been full, I savored much; Good friends, good times, a loved one’s touch.
Perhaps my time seemed all too brief; Don’t lengthen it now with undue grief.
Lift up your heart and share with me; God wanted me now, He set me free.
……………
As we still grieve, please take time ot remember what a warm, generous, and loving spirit Neal embodied, and know that his love for everyone is great.
Happy Birthday Neal!
On July 23, 2008 a group of friends and family gathered to wish Neal a happy 31st birthday. It was a festive celebration filled with Filipino food and a balloon send off with special messages to Neal attached. My close friend Brandon King documented the evening. You can see all the photos here.
Happy Birthday Neal. You are very much missed and loved!
Before I left for Australia, Dawn Perrin interviewed me and my parents. She wanted to write an article on Neal for the next University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Bulletin. Dawn was so thoughtful sending me copies of the Bulletin all the way to Australia. I just wanted to share this article with everyone.
Aileen Aquino
……..
Neal Aquino, MD
1977-2007
On August 27, 2007, the UC College of Medicine lost a young, vibrant alumnus. It is difficult for his 2001 classmates to fathom that only ten years ago, Neal had become the youngest student to receive a white coat at the ceremony on August 1997.
Neal was a brilliant man. A member of Mensa, he began reading at age 3, skipped two grades to graduate early from Covington Latin School, and earned double degrees from Xavier University before enrolling at UC COM.
In meeting Neal’s family and hearing from friends, the traits that stand out above all were Neal’s contagious smile and his zest for life. He traveled the world, visiting 20 countries. He experienced exotic foods, climbed mountains, amassed an eclectic art collection, savored time with friends, family, and continually sought challenges. From primary school, he knew that he wanted to be a physician. Neal practiced as an emergency medicine physician in Cincinnati–his beloved hometown.
Dawn Perrin
Director of Development, Educational Initiatives, UC College of Medicine
I just returned from a trip with some of the guys from the Covington Latin School class of 1993. The initial idea and planning for the trip started with Neal just over a year ago.
Neal was always the guy who always liked to organize social functions and long overdue reunions. As we sat around the table talking, the conversation naturally turned to Neal, as it often does when my friends and I have gotten together over the past year. Although the sadness was still there, it was good to remember a terrific friend who more than once brought out the better side in all of us.
Neal, God bless.
Jake Thamann, CLS 1993
As the one year anniversary of our lives without Neal approaches I just wanted to write and let his family know that his memory is still with us everyday. Neal was such a wonderful person and incredible emergency room physician, as you well know. This website is a great testimony of just how many lives he has touched. I cherish the memories I have of Neal, and find myself talking about him a lot. He is missed very much and has not and will not ever be forgotten. As Nancy mentioned we still have our “Neal collage” that is hanging by the nurse’s station in the ER. It is truely an inspiration and motivator on a bad day to look at that board and just remember how patient and dedicated Neal was, even on those “bad days”. Thank you Nestor and Althea for sharing your wonderful son with us and allowing us all to be better people because of having him in our lives.
Mary, RN
Western Hills ER
Dear Dr. and Mrs. Aquino,
I wanted to write about our progress from the donation request for the Neal Aquino Book Fund at Summa Health System. During the past 7 months, we have collected nearly $27,000.00. These funds will be used solely to purchase Robert’s and Hedges Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine, and the Tintinnali Guide to Emergency Medicine books for our incoming class of residents each year.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to let you know what a success this project was. I believe it was largely due to the fact that so many of us knew and respected Neal, and he is still deeply missed by all. We believe Neal would have been proud to know how many of his former friends, colleagues and mentors donated to this very worthwhile project.
If there is ever anything you need, please do not hesitate to contact me. Please know that I think of Neal and your family often.
Sincerely,
Michelle Blanda, MD
Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine Summa Health System Akron, Ohio
I was going through some papers and found a picture of Neal which made me come to the web site again. It was wonderful to read the letter from Jane, to know that Neal is still with us! I work at Mercy Western Hills ER and we still talk about Neal often. We have a collage of pictures of him hanging in our main hallway (just across from the nurses station) that gives us needed inspiration every day. We miss him dearly and keep his family in our thoughts and prayers.
Nancy
Mercy Western Hills
They say that time heals all wounds, and after losing my father at age 10 I’m not sure I believed that. After losing Neal at age 31, I’m even less of a believer. It’s been almost 7 months, and narry a day has come that I haven’t missed Neal. Each time my phone beeps letting me know a text message has been delivered, I hurry to check and see what off the wall comment Neal might be sending me. Every time my phone rings after 10 on a weeknight, I grab for it, and the words “What’s UUUUUPPPPPP NEALY?” are on the tip of my tongue. We all have gone about our daily lives, with a hole in our hearts, and a gaping chasm in our reality. Neal was that much a part of my life, and many others from what I have gathered, that “time” will not be enough to heal this wound.
However, though my heart remains filled with sadness, and my daily routine filled with loss and malaise, I cannot shake the feeling that Neal continues to influence my life even though he is no longer physically here. Having been so blessed to know Neal, it’s impossible for me to dwell on the negative in his passing. I know, in my heart, that it wouldn’t have been his approach. Instead, he would have gone on….celebrating his loved one who had passed, and attempting to live his life in a way that would have honored them….indeed, to have become that much stronger, that much more of an example to others. (Not that it would have been possible for Neal to have done this, but there certainly is room for me to grow closer to having the type of impact he had)
I was recently introduced to a song, the words to which remind me of what Neal meant to me, and how I hope to continue changing my own life.
“I like to write colorful songs. About beauty, and honesty, and people gettin’ along. I like to be, with people like me. Keeping faith and hope, and the best in all that they see. You taught me, that everything isn’t always roses. You taught me that everyone isn’t always true. You taught me to live in, all that I’ve been given, to hold back a little bit for myself. You taught me to buy, just a little bit of time, so that I can escape with myself”
Neal, I still miss you.
Shawn Dailey
