within a span of 4 days, 2 people i know passed away as they lost their battle to cancer. the first was a neighbor, RouLin. on the 15th July 2009, i received an sms from my mum on this update. the first reaction was of shock. She was of my age. We went to the same tuition class when we were primary 6. After primary 6, however, we did not keep in touch. that was 1992. I've heard about her only via my mum once in a blue moon. To think that 16 years down the road, i will meet her again at her funeral at the void deck. She was a beautiful young lady with a successful career. during the funeral, the pastor told her history. apparently, she had a finance degree but she went on to do a law degree and was working with her new employer for slightly over 1 year prior to her death bed. Her diagnosis of stomach cancer was in Nov 2008, but she went through chemo by herself w/o informing her family until a stage she could not keep it from them.
At the funeral, frens and relatives and neighbors gathered with grief faces. i've not seen a more sombre funeral. Perhaps it was due to her young age, everyone was feeling that her lose was really a great pity. it was at that time that it struck me life was really fragile and precious. Death can happen to anyone, successful or failure, young or old.
My deep heart lingered for the next 2 days as i tried to focus on the more positive things in life. Then came this morning at work that i found out that a colleague had just gave in to cancer. Mr Anthony Sim was a very friendly mentor to most of us, partially due to his seniority. He was the oldest member in my firm. he had such memorable laughter that he won the Most Gregarious Laugh last year during my company's x'mas event! always friendly and smiling, this grandfather was also generous. he would bring his home grown big fat banana for us. and it was the best banana you can ever have. thick red and sweet, nothing you can find in the stores.
When i found out about his death, it was already 2 days late. he passed away on 18th July 2009 in the morning. Some of my colleagues went down this afternoon to his funeral. the atmosphere was quite different from Roulin's. mainly due to his age and that he has lived a full life. everyone was pleasant and smiling.
however, there was still a sense of loss in me. 2 back to back deaths involving cancer is intimidating. another colleague is now away from work to nurse his mom from cancer as well.
All these events pierced hardly into me. Sometimes, when life is good, you tend to overlook on things around you. I need to learn to appreciate those around me more. Maybe I shd start to venture outside my box from today. Maybe I shd get a full body check up.
No one knows when is each's expiration date. one can only try to make each day a great one while still breathing.
RIP Roulin and Anthony.
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