{"id":2221,"date":"2013-04-20T11:00:13","date_gmt":"2013-04-20T15:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/?p=2221"},"modified":"2013-04-20T11:00:13","modified_gmt":"2013-04-20T15:00:13","slug":"toronto-stars-article-on-dying-filipina-nanny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/toronto-stars-article-on-dying-filipina-nanny\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Star&#8217;s Article on  Dying Filipina Nanny"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Maricon Gerente<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>By:<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/authors.keung_nicholas.html\" rel=\"author\">Nicholas Keung<\/a> Immigration reporter,\u00a0Published on Friday, April 20, 2013<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/mari.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-2228\" alt=\"mari\" src=\"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/mari-150x150.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Maricon Gerente has long dreamed of having her two daughters join her in Canada from the Philippines. The girls have finally arrived, at least temporarily, but she may never know it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>The 44-year-old Oakville woman has been in a coma since she underwent two surgeries to remove a benign brain tumour.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Lean, 14, and sister Saniel, 11, arrived Canada this week to visit their mother and are burdened with the task of deciding, with input from other relatives, if they should tell doctors to let her go peacefully.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cWe brought the girls here to see their mother before she became a memory for them,\u201d said Aileen Banzon Tan, Gerente\u2019s cousin, who escorted the girls to Canada. \u201cWe\u2019ll have to set a time to stop Maricon\u2019s medication. We don\u2019t want to see her suffer any more.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-inset-done=\"true\">\n<div data-title=\"Live-in caregiver\u2019s coma leaves her daughters\u2019 future in limbo\" data-image-ids=\"[maricon_gerente][maricon_gerente[2]]\" data-image-uris=\"[http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/content\/dam\/thestar\/news\/immigration\/2013\/04\/19\/livein_caregivers_coma_leaves_her_daughters_future_in_limbo\/maricon_gerente.jpg.size.xxxlarge.letterbox.jpg][http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/content\/dam\/thestar\/news\/immigration\/2013\/04\/19\/livein_caregivers_coma_leaves_her_daughters_future_in_limbo\/maricon_gerente_1.jpg.size.xxxlarge.letterbox.jpg]\" data-image-credits=\"[ \/ Jodie Gilbert Photo][ \/ ]\" data-image-captions=\"[Ma Concepcion Ala Gerente, known to her family and friends as Maricon, in her hospital bed, with her former employer Jodie Gilbert and her two daughters, Lean and Saniel, at her bedside.][A photo taken in the summer of 2012 in the Philippines when Maricon Gerente, middle, returned to visit her daughters Lean, 14, left, and Saniel, 11.]\" data-sidebar=\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/news\/immigration\/2013\/04\/19\/livein_caregivers_coma_leaves_her_daughters_future_in_limbo.lightbox-photos.html\">\n<h3>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Photos\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 View gallery<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A photo taken in the summer of 2012 in the Philippines when Maricon Gerente, middle, returned to visit her daughters Lean, 14, left, and Saniel, 11.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/content\/dam\/thestar\/news\/immigration\/2013\/04\/19\/livein_caregivers_coma_leaves_her_daughters_future_in_limbo\/maricon_gerente_1.jpg.size.medium2.promo.jpg\" \/>zoom<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Working in Canada as a live-in caregiver since 2008, Gerente, the breadwinner for the girls and her siblings, has been waiting to get permanent resident status in Canada since 2011.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>She was so close to fulfilling her dream. Two days after she went into the coma, immigration officials tried to contact her for an interview regarding her application.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Her passing will put Lean\u2019s and Saniel\u2019s future in limbo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Eli and Jodie Gilbert, Gerente\u2019s former employers and now friends, are trying to help the dying woman\u2019s hopes for her daughters come true.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The Oakville couple set up an Aeroplan Charitable Pooling Account to accept donated points to cover the plane tickets for the trio. A trust fund has been established to raise money to help support the young girls.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just so sad \u2014 all these women like Maricon have to move away and work so hard to provide for their family back home and bring them here,\u201d said Jodie Gilbert. \u201cShe\u2019s spent her entire life doing that, looking after others\u2019 children while away from her own.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Gerente, who is divorced for the girl\u2019s father, left them in her care when they were still infants, working as a caregiver in Paris before coming to Canada because this country could offer her a pathway for permanent status.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>While working for the Gilberts, she spent her evenings taking classes in a two-year program to become a personal support worker. She left the family\u2019s employ in 2011, when she had met the live-in requirement and obtained an open work permit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cShe believes this is the place for the future of her children,\u201d Tan said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Lean and Saniel last saw their mother in the summer of 2012 and were told she had already started collecting items her girls would need when they joined her in Canada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>However, in October, Gerente was hit by a debilitating headache. The Gilberts, who remained good friends, took her to Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, which transferred her to Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga. A tumour the size of a mandarin was found in her brain. She has been in a \u201cchronic vegetative state\u201d since then.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard to see her like this. I can\u2019t imagine her in bed. She was a strong woman,\u201d said Lean, who, along with her sister, attends a private school because Gerente wanted them to have the best education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cShe always talks about the dream of all of us being in Canada. She says she loves Canada because it is good for the kids and the people are very kind.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Tan said the family plans to spread half of Gerente\u2019s ashes in Canada and take the other half to the Philippines. \u201cThis is the place where she wants to be forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>An immigration application usually terminates with the death of the applicant, but there have been exceptional cases where processing of dependants proceeds, under humanitarian and compassionate considerations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Gerente\u2019s daughters said they want to live in Canada. But their case would be very complicated as they are still minors, with a living parent back in the Philippines, and have no immediate family in Canada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Contributions to the girls\u2019 air mileage can be made to the charitable pooling account 771296605. Donations can be made to the Bank of Montreal, at the account 2472-897-8219, or through Interac and e-transfers to <a href=\"mailto:maricontrust@icloud.com\">maricontrust@icloud.com <\/a>.<br \/>\n&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p>You can read this article in today&#8217;s issue of Toronto Star in the GTA section.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maricon Gerente By: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nicholas Keung Immigration reporter,\u00a0Published on Friday, April 20, 2013 Maricon Gerente has long dreamed of having her two daughters join her in Canada from the Philippines. The girls have finally arrived, at least temporarily, but she &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/toronto-stars-article-on-dying-filipina-nanny\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scoring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2221"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2233,"href":"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221\/revisions\/2233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierragolfers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}