Monday, August 29, 2005

Loss

Yesterday, I attended the wake of a classmate's 16-year-old daughter. She had passed away from a congenital heart disorder which she had been diagnosed with in the antenatal period & had not been expected to live beyond the first weeks of life. She miraculously beat the odds & survived till her 16th year without any corrective surgery.

I cannot fathom the heartache & sorrow which my friend & his wife must be going through on losing their child. Although they had 16 good & fulfilling years with this miracle child, & have 3 other children to help them bear their loss, she was still their daughter.

I cannot imagine losing either of my children, and hope that I will never have to go through the experience...

6 comments:

le radical galoisien said...

(!!!!)

I think I know who this is. Is this a girl from Fairfield? If she is who I think it is....I didn't attend Fairfield Sec, only Fairfield Primary but I heard about it with great sadness from my friends. August 25, 2005?

aliendoc said...

Yup, she was.

le radical galoisien said...

It's really uncanny, I never expected the walls to be breached between the intensely personal and an externally medical/political such as yours.

Well I'll post her memory tribute if anyone wants.

It's a one year anniversary ...

le radical galoisien said...

If I may permitted to give some background:

The whole school felt sorrow as well; everyone in her class, and especially her best friend since kindergarten took it especially hard. The school suspended lessons for the week to grieve.

As I was aware, she was permanently excused from PE, and received a scolding for attempting to play basketball that day. But when the teacher's back was turned because of talking with another teacher, she shot a few hoops, when she suddenly collapsed.

But what is one to do when they have been excluded from playing sports for 16 years; is that not equally tormenting?

It is rather haunting when it occurs while overseas, and one is not physically there to be with one's friends...

aliendoc said...

Her father was my JC & med school classmate. He gave me a very good insight to what her very full life was like. For them to have her for 16 years, when the initial pre-natal prognosis was so grim was, in itself, a miracle.
He told me what had happened on the day of her passing. I can't imagine how traumatic it must have been not only for her family, but for those who saw her collapse...

aliendoc said...

Never meant for this blog to be purely medical/political or however one may want to categorise it...just a creative outlet for myself & a way of writing down my memoirs before my brain cells die. Call it a result of my mid-life crisis, if you will!

Here's to life...

:)