Last Friday, I got home after dinner and got into my usual routine.. Enter room, remove shoes, drop bag, switch on the air-conditioning, shower. Normally, mum will knock on my room door just to catch up on the day’s happenings and if I’m in the shower, she’ll come back later. But last Friday, she entered my room and kept knocking on my bathroom door. “I’m bathing!”.. *continued knocks* Ok..
I opened the door (towel-ed up if you need to know) and her face was a mixture of emotions – concern? Fear? Worry? Heartache? Perhaps all of the above. She told me that a close family friend of ours (let’s call her Aunty S) was most likely diagnosed with stomach cancer. Mum had just visited Aunty S at her home and it didn’t look good.
Supposedly, Aunty S had been losing weight lately but no one thought much of it till honestly, I can’t remember how.. A series of scans and tests followed up.. Family flew back from all over the world and results are positive. Aunty S has stomach cancer. And it doesn’t look good. Aunty S is a grandma but she’s a young, gorgeous looking grandma. She cooks, bakes, opens her home for cell group, brings her grandchildren to cool places etc. She’s a good person. Good people don’t deserve bad stuff.
A few of the church people (who are also all good friends) have been gathering together to pray. Aunty S is scared, says mum. Her husband cried in front of them.. Everything happened so quickly and it’s definitely a lot for anyone close to them to come to terms with. Mum has recommended surgeons and specialists and I trust mum, she knows these stuff really well.
Aunty S will be undergoing surgery this Friday to remove her entire stomach (that’s what mum said) and perhaps some other bits. And I pray with all my might that she will be okay.
In moments like these, all you can do is pray and trust God to do what’s best. Life is really uncertain, isn’t it? Every day that we awake from our slumber, each moment we’re breathing, it’s a blessing. Mum hugs me more often now. I guess we all cope with fear differently and I’m sure mum’s scared too.
Please keep Aunty S in your prayers. There’s only so much we humans can do.
On the 1st of March, I received a text from mom saying that a very close elderly church friend (my family calls him my ‘church bf’) of mine had passed away. He had been battling with cancer for more than a year. The above picture was taken in church during my last week in Singapore. It was also the same day he celebrated his 87th birthday. The feeling of knowing that that would be last the time I ever saw him alive was pretty heartbreaking.
