Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Making a Difference

Yesterday was a heart-wrenching day for all of us. The late Rusina’s children stayed up all night for her the previous night, surrounding her with prayers for her soul. All eight of them stuck together around her bed facing her cold lifeless body. It would break anyone’s heart to see the pain in their eyes.

It was also far too painful for her parents who were together with her children. This is the third time they lost a child. The first was their first born son, who left this world due to high fever at a very tender age. Ten years ago, Ani who had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) passed away when she was 25. She was diagnosed of leukemia when she was 16. She went through rounds of chemotherapy and radiation therapy for a year. After that, she recovered and led a normal life for 10 years finishing high school and went to college to pursue her undergraduate studies. It was before her final year that she relapsed. She went through another round of treatment but it was too late as her body had weakened. Now, ten years after her passing, her eldest sister had Acute Myeloid Leukemia which took her within a month and was buried next to her yesterday.

For the late Rusina, many came to visit her. What touches everyone was the fact that four school buses of her students came to see her for the last time and prayed for her. It was a traumatic time for her children as they wept uncontrollably as they prepare to carry her away yesterday at noon.

She must have touched hundreds of lives. Her children, her parents, her siblings, her nieces, her nephews, her relatives, her friends, her colleagues, her business partners, and even the bus driver who sponsored the trip for the students to see her. She must have made a difference in his life too.

Today, July 24, 2007 is a very sad day for all of us.
Today, we were supposed to get the blood match so that a stem cell transplant can be done to save her life. The plan was to take her blood sample today at 8.00 a.m. and then all siblings will gather in another hospital at 9.30 a.m. to have their blood samples taken so that a match is sought. In a week, the results will be released and the right donor is identified. It will then take a further 6 weeks for the stem cells to be cultured and then transplanted into her body.

Today no one knows whose blood is the exact match for her, as today she is no longer with us.
Today, she has left us and God had spared her the suffering and pain.
All of us shall now begin our healing by staying strong.
We shall keep memories of her close in our hearts as she had made a difference in our lives.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Al fatihah to arwah....
yup its not easy to feel that situations but what we can do all this thing are unexpected thing happens...
this things still in our people life the diffrence is the situations...
and how we can feel that experience....