Remembering Leilani T. Young

Leilani T. Young photo from a Honolulu Magazine web article when she worked as the Cherry Blossom Festival contestant coordinator.

I should preface this all by saying, I didn’t know Leilani that well.

My wife, Audra and I met Leilani for the first time at the St. Andrew’s Priory Holiday fair in 2008 ¹. We were exhibiting to promote our comic, nemu*nemu. She mentioned that she was a huge fan of Hello Kitty and that she instantly fell in love with the characters we created. She soon became a regular face at many of the events we participated in.

I got to know her more via social media. According to the exported data archive from my now jettisoned Facebook account ², Leilani and I became Facebook friends on December 06, 2008 at 3:06pm… which would be the same day she met us at the event!

Through Facebook, I learned that Leilani had excellent taste and liked nice things. I found that we had a shared interest in Apple and their products. We’d discuss the latest Apple gadgets when they were announced - iPhones, AirPods, and accessories. Before I knew it, we were Apple Watch buddies. We’d cheer each other on as we tried to attain our fitness goals. I remember our shared frustration with never being able to achieve the 365 days of activity award because we each took vacations to Asia.³

I remember when the Apple HomePod was announced and Leilani said that she wasn’t too interested in it because she mainly listened to podcasts and music on her beloved AirPods. Further, she wasn’t too impressed with Siri ⁴. Of course, I was one of the idiots that got the HomePod on the day it was released. I made an Instagram story where I asked Siri about the weather to show off what the HomePod could do. After seeing the story, Leilani immediately messaged me saying how she now had to have one, and was wondering if it could work using the wi-fi at work.

But there was more to Leilani than just Apple stuff. When I was looking for a new vet for my dog, it was Leilani that recommended King Street Pet Hospital. My memory is hazy, but I think she recommended Dr. Millen, who also had a Border Collie. We loved working with Dr. Millen, but as she took on more duties and needed time for her family, we eventually switched to Dr. Ganzer as Roxy’s regular vet. Leilani also directed us to a trustworthy groomer, after another groomer shaved off all of Roxy’s fur due to a misunderstanding. Both of her recommendations were excellent and made a difference in my life. The King Street Hospital staff and Dr. Ganzer took great care of Roxy all the way until the end.

Somehow, I learned that she too, had a Gund “Snuffles” stuffed animal buddy that was important to her. We exchanged photos and stories of them and marveled at how long we’ve each had them. It’s no wonder Leilani loved nemu*nemu so much!

When the movie, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was released on Netflix, I mistakenly took the lead actor, Lana Condor, for Leilani. I sent Leilani the image and we laughed about it. She remarked how there was a resemblance, but maybe when she was younger.

One day, I got a message that Leilani had removed me from her Apple Watch activity friends list. I didn’t think too much about it. I assumed that she may have needed to reset her activity settings or maybe she got a brand new Apple Watch. During this time she also disappeared from social media.

I later learned when she posted on Instagram that she had been in rehab at a hospital, and then in a nursing facility for 3 months. She had been bedridden for weeks, but with physical therapy, was able to regain her strength to begin to walk again. Her goal was to be strong enough to get out of the hospital so she could watch her 7-year-old daughter’s school performance in The Jungle Book. The videos she posted that day showed that she made it to the performance!

However, she never mentioned the cause of hospitalization. It’s not my style to pry, so I didn’t question it. I was just happy that she was getting stronger each day and that she was in good spirits. About 6 months later, she revealed the cause of her illness via an Instagram post. During the month of November, she was sharing one thing daily that she was thankful for. I’ll never forget reading that post.

It was day 16, and she posted a photo of 5 large pill bottles. She wrote that she had been suffering for a couple of weeks with excruciating back pain, but after going to the ER, they found that she had broken her back in 3 places and needed surgery right away. After more tests, she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung, brain, liver and bone cancer. They also found tumors had infiltrated multiple parts of her body.

The silver lining in all of this was that she had what she said was a “special gene mutation” that’s present in less that 3% of people that have stage 4 lung cancer. This meant she could try a new FDA approved drug called Alecensa. According to Leilani, the drug worked quickly, and within a month it had eradicated the tumors in her brain. The smaller tumors in her lungs, liver and bones remained, but she was doing better and getting stronger. She credited the power of prayer and the pills for this miracle. She had a new outlook on life and was ready to live it!

After reading her post, I shared it with my wife and we had a good long cry. I sent Leilani a message letting her know that over the past few months, we didn’t know what was happening but we kept her in our prayers, and how we were sure she’d beat this because she’s a fighter. I told her that even though we don’t know each other well, we were so happy and thankful that she was still with us.

From that time on, I enjoyed seeing her get stronger, and enjoy time with her husband, daughter and family and friends. We continued to comment on each others Instagram photos and chat on the side about Apple products and other stuff every now and then. She told me how she was really hoping for the Apple Car to become a reality by the time she needed to get rid of her current car. She commissioned Audra to do an avatar illustration of her with her short hair style, which remains her avatar to this day.

The last time I saw Leilani, was at the start of 2019, maybe a few months before her hospitalization. Audra and I were having dinner at Pieology, and we noticed Leilani and her family come in. It was the first time we met her husband and daughter, and according to Leilani, her daughter’s first time having pizza!

During 2020, I continued to check in on Leilani, sending her lots of heart emojis and words of encouragement. If COVID-19 was tough for me, I could only imagine how hard it was for her.

In November of last year, I was wondering how she was doing. I asked my wife if she’d heard from Leilani, and when she said she hadn’t, I wasted no time in sending her a message asking how she was. She replied that things were rough, but she was trying to stay strong. She said that she was so happy to get the Hello Kitty sketch card in the mail from Audra. It was the last time we would message each other.

A couple of weeks ago, Audra sent me a screenshot of a Facebook post that Leilani’s husband had shared via Leilani’s account. She had passed suddenly during a visit to the hospital for a treatment and IV fluids. The nurses tried to wake her and the doctors did everything they could to save her, but she never regained consciousness.

Although I didn’t know Leilani well, she felt like an old friend that I’ve known forever. She was someone that I could easily pick up a conversation with and feel like no time had passed since the last time saw each other.

I’ll always remember the bag she created to show off her collection of nemu*nemu buttons that she had collected. She was there, standing in line for an autograph when Audra and I did our very first signing at Borders Books at Ward. She was our first super fan.

I’ll miss so many things about her, especially her huge smile, and the way she lit up a room when she walked in. She was always radiating with love.

She was simply too much for this world.