At Gilroy Donut House, a story of loss, a story of love.
Family that owns Gilroy Donut House is grieving — and grateful
Monday might have been like any other morning at the Gilroy Donut House, with Hok family members — who have owned the downtown shop for 30 years — greeting their regulars and boxing up apple fritters, buttermilk bars and maple old-fashioneds.
Except that many of those customer orders came with heartfelt messages for the family, whose emotions are roiling with both anguish and gratitude.
Their 29-year-old daughter and sister Kim, who had been on life support since suffering a brain aneurysm in late April, died Thursday. But her organs were in good shape. On Saturday, one of her kidneys was transplanted into her ailing father, Sreng Hok, in an operation at Stanford University.
Her other kidney and her liver went to two other patients, according to her brother, Bunlong “Jeffery” Hok.
“She can save three people’s lives,” mother Soktea said after emerging from the back of the shop with a tray of freshly made doughnuts. “I’m happy.”
Kimlang Phoeu, who went by Kim or Kimmie, was a special needs child and her mother’s constant companion. The family immigrated to the United States from Cambodia in 1985, and Kimmie was born about six years later. Mother and daughter worked together, walked together, watched TV together.
Soktea said she needs to stay busy at this time. “If I go home, it reminds me because she’s my best friend,” she said, her body convulsing into sobs. “She’s my everything.”
The community has rallied to support the family since a GoFundMe campaign was launched last week by longtime customer Stephanie Upton-Gonzalez.
She wanted customers to know that the 60-year-old Sreng, who has been on dialysis, and Soktea, 55, who
suffers from numbness and weakness after a stroke, were scrambling to keep the business afloat after their daughter’s medical emergency.
“These funds will go to help with their rent, medical bills, or whatever else they need to be able to grieve and not worry so much during this difficult time,” UptonGonzalez wrote. More than $90,000 has been raised.
Monday’s stream of doughnut buyers included regulars and new customers who had read articles about the Hoks or seen the GoFundMe page and wanted to support the family. Some were just hearing about Saturday’s transplant.
“How is Mr. Hok doing?” customer Leticia Luna asked. “He was compatible? Really? Oh, good!”
She added: “It’s sweet-bitter because of the situation with his daughter. He’s such a sweet man.”
Michael Caragio, who has been coming here for 20 years, was a fan of Kim, who always remembered his family’s doughnut preferences. “I’m going to miss her. She was so awesome.”
Others commented on Jeffery’s head, shorn of its long hair.
“In Cambodia when you’re in mourning, you shave your head,” he said. “My father did it when my grandfather died. I’m doing it for my sister.”
His father was feeling well enough for a hospital call and unveiling.
“The morning I shaved, I FaceTimed him,” said Jeffery, 20. “He laughed,” then bowed his head slightly and put his hands together, “because now I look like a Buddhist monk.”
But the elder Hok won’t be able to return to work for a while. “For the first month, he’s going to be a little wobbly. We have to wait for him to walk on his own.”
Until then, Jeffery said, he and his mother are receiving lots of help at the shop from relatives, including his aunt Heak Huoch and cousin Sovandy Phoeu, all of whom were close to his sister. And friends of his have been stopping by the shop after closing time to help him clean up and fold pink bakery boxes for the next day.
In the middle of the night — about 1 a.m. — Soktea arrives to start making the doughnuts, as she’s been doing seven days a week, Mother’s Day included, for years.
“If you change the baker, you change the doughnut,” she said. “And customer know right away.”
So she plans to keep working, caring for her husband and building a better life for her son. And honoring her beloved Kimmie.
“That’s why I do good things for people — so she will get a better life in the next life. That’s what I pray.”
The doughnut shop is at 703 First St., Gilroy.