Mackay fatal box jellyfish sting: Parents’ tribute to 14-year-old boy
A teen jellyfish victim’s final journey is one step closer thanks to the generosity of the Queensland community. Now, just a few more helpers are needed to get the 14-year-old home.
Mackay
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A Mackay family has expressed thanks to the community for “making it possible” to repatriate their son’s body after a box jellyfish sting at Eimeo Beach.
Mark Angelo Ligmayo emerged from the water with his legs covered in the deadly tentacles on Saturday February 26, dying only hours after at Mackay Base Hospital.
His mother Agnes Guinumtad’s final wish, to take her son’s body home so his grandfather could see him one last time, is now looking possible thanks to community support and donations.
Representative for the family, solicitor Kay Cora, said plans were under way to take Mark Angelo to the Philippines on March 15.
She said the family was still waiting for consular documents to confirm, but hopes were high.
“[The Guinumtads] cannot thank you enough,” Mrs Cora said.
“Your kind donations have made it possible to bring Mark Angelo home.
“They would like to extend their thanks to each and every person who has said their condolences, and everyone who has donated to the GoFundMe page.”
Mrs Cora said the costs of repatriation from Australia were estimated to be between $12,000 and $15,000.
She said the total cost was expected to double to $30,000 when Mark Angelo arrived in Manila.
She said a funeral director would need to meet him there and take him to his final resting spot.
Mark Angelo’s mother will be travelling as well, with plans for the rest of the family still uncertain.
“It’s been very hard for them,” Mrs Cora said.
“Their emotions are high and low, and there is a complete state of shock.”
“We all just need to be there for them, because it could have been any of us or our children.”
Mark Angelo Ligmayo, like many teenagers, liked to swim.
He had waded in the coastal waters off his new home – Mackay – a place he had waited three years to arrive in, and be reunited with his stepfather.
A boy whose favourite colour was green, a brooding teen growing into a young man and whose life aspirations to join the army so cruelly cut short after an afternoon dip at Eimeo Beach on Saturday.
Mark was with his family – parents Nick and Agnes Guinumtad, and younger sister Nickole at the patrolled beach, wearing a rashie to ward off the sun, as he entered the water just 15 minutes after surf lifesavers dragged for stingers.
Nickole was nearby, his mum on the shore, when Mark stumbled out of the water, covered in tentacles, collapsing on the sand about 2.30pm.
“I could see my son’s face, and I could feel the pain,” Mrs Guinumtad said.
“I kept praying and praying, I didn’t stop praying. I prayed that he would say something.”
Stung by the world’s most venomous animal, Mark quickly slipped into cardiac arrest as Eimeo Surf Life Saving Club members – led by experienced lifesaver Ross Gee – performed exemplary first aid.
Every drop of vinegar on Eimeo Beach – more than 30 litres – was poured over his legs and arm.
“It’s not the first time we went swimming,” Mr Guinumtad said.
“We were there when they swept the beach. I thought they were sweeping it for some dirt or dry leaves, I didn’t know it was for jellyfish.
“I didn’t know that was the purpose of the drag net.”
Witnesses who rushed to help told of Mark letting out an anguished groan for help.
“It’s hard, to see your son trying to overcome it, it’s hard, to see your son dying in front of you,” Mr Guinumtad said.
It is a heartbreaking twist for the family, separated for three years because of Covid and just starting to settle into life in Mackay.
Mr Guinumtad has worked in Mackay for almost a decade, spending every holiday visiting his family who were waiting for visas to join him.
In 2019, everything seemed ready to go and the boilermaker rented a multi-bedroom apartment in anticipation.
But Covid-19 hit shortly after, closing the borders and putting their plans on hold.
“It’s hard, so many years I have waited to have my family here,” Mr Guinumtad said.
“I was waiting for it to be complete, for them to come and make it complete.”
It took three gruelling years before the family was finally reunited in what was the pinnacle of their happiness at Mackay Airport in December.
The family spent Christmas in quarantine, but said it was still one of the best.
“We were happy, we had food, we were all together in this house, we were complete,” Mrs Guinumtad said.
She said Mark was excited to begin his education in Australia and on his first day at Mackay State High School, he woke up extra early in anticipation of the day ahead.
The day their lives turned upside down, Mrs Guinumtad said she had been excited to spend the day together as a family, having lunch at Eimeo Beach.
Mark had been in only waist high water for about 10 minutes when he began stumbling out, his legs and arms entwined with more than two metres of a deadly box jellyfish.
The pair said in just moments the beach became a flurry of action as lifeguards raced to help their son, removing the venomous tentacles with tens of litres of vinegar and providing CPR.
Mark was taken to Mackay Base Hospital where he died a short time later.
The Guinumtad family was left grappling with the difficult task of burying their son back home in the Philippines, initially at a loss of where to start in navigating the process.
But just as the family was supported on the beach, the Mackay community has enveloped the Guinumtads donating thousands to an online fundraiser and working behind the scenes to repatriate Mark’s body for burial.
Mr Guinumtad said he was shocked at the support this family had received.
“We didn’t know that there was all this,” he said.
“There are so many people helping us. [It feels like] the Mackay community is saying a prayer for Mark.
“Even the workers at the Mackay Base Hospital there were so supportive.”
Much of the support has come since the community learned of Mrs Guinumtad’s wish to take her son’s body back to the Philippines where her father could look at his face one last time.
“I want to take him home,” she said.
Dawson MP George Christensen met with the Guinumtads on Monday afternoon and is working with them to meet this aspiration.
The family now needs $30,000 for the repatriation.
Mr Christensen has contacted the Philippines Embassy in Australia to see whether the embassy can assist in removing consular fees.
He is also moving to negotiate with Philippine Airlines to see whether transport costs could be waived on compassionate grounds.
Representatives of the family plan to craft an open letter to the airline and members of the public can add their name to it.
Mr Christensen said people signing the letter as a polite way to petition the airline and support the family.
The letter will go online in coming days.
Mr Christensen also said the Mackay community had already stepped up for the family, demonstrated by the more than $10,000 that has been raised within 24 hours on GoFundMe.
“There is a lot of fundraising that is going on,” he said.
The moving gesture from the region comes as the Ligmayo family reveal their heartbreaking twist having only reunited shortly before Christmas.
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