Friday, 16 October 2009

Goodbye E, J and HH

E (female) and J (male), both passed on recently from colorectal cancer.

14 Oct, Wed, I was leaving Kg Senang after a volunteer session when I noticed I had an sms from LY's son informing me of HH's wake. HH's wake? I hadn't had my specs on and thought I read it wrong. I fumbled for my specs and put it on. There was no mistake - it was about HH's wake. So, when did she passed away? It's a little strange to get a message informing me of her wake when I had not received news of her passing. She had passed on peacefully, surrounded by family members, that very morning.

LY's son had visited her on Monday and she had looked fine then.

M and I had seen her on 7 Oct and she was still alert and eating and talking, although it was obvious that her stomach and legs were swollen. The skin on her legs were taut.

HH was the founder of TRC, a support group for people with recurrent cancers. It was her life and she was very passionate about it. While we were there, she kept talking about the support group, the upcoming events and what should be done. Even though she was on the 'dangerously-ill list' (DIL), she made no mention of her own condition, but was very focused on TRC.

HH had been fighting a relapse since last year and was on long term chemo. After her one month break from chemo, tests showed that the cancer had spread to her brain, and her markers had gone back up to before chemo level.

HH's fight was a tough one. She and her onco battled the cancer, strategized with change of drugs and backed-up with blood transfusions (3 that I knew of, sometime end of last year) when the blood test results were not satisfactory.

HH always put others before self. Her thoughts and concerns were always about others even when it was obvious to us that she was so ill. She tried her best as far as possible to ensure that any sick member who needed member support would not be left alone to undergo checkups or therapy.

She will be missed.

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