Several people died the past week or so. Well, many people die actually every day.
But I am referring to people that are known to me or kababayans.
While i was in the US, aside from our friend Delia, another woman is suffering from cancer. Her gums started aching and she felt pains very similar to toothaches.
She went to Kaiser Permanente and her doctor agreed that it could be inflamed gums so she was given antibiotic. The pain persisted and she went back the second time. There was also a lump on the side of her ear which they thought was kulani.
Baka daw sisipunin lang sya.
Not convinced, she went to see another doctor. The lump was removed and it tested positive for a rare form of cancer. Ngayon naman, lagi na lang rare form of cancer.
The cancer has invaded her blood and it’s already in her brains. She’s not even 50 years old.
My sister found out too late last week that a kababayan of ours who’s based in San Francisco died. We were not able to go to her wake. The information Aileen got was that the girl, 51, Rhodora Goto- Silverman, collapsed while she was washing the dishes one night. It was aneurysm. Kaya daw masama talaga ang naghuhugas ng pinggan. Sa America may dishwasher, buti na lang dito si Cherry at Sandra ang taga hugas.
Edmund told me that a few days ago he was shocked when he was speaking to Mrs. Tessie Balaguer the other day, the daughter of the late Danny Floro, of the Crispa clan.
Mrs. Balaguer said “Mr. Yee, maybe you didn’t know that two of my grandchildren died”. We really didn’t know. It happened on May 19 while my bilas, Ellen was nakaburol.
Apparently the two teen boys, Timothy Syyap, 18, and brother Joshua, 15, attended a party in their vilage and were on their way home at 3 or 4 am when the car (Hyundai Elantra) they were riding hit a Meralco post inside the Ayala Alabang Subdivision where they lived. Their companions Thomas Eric Nguyen, 16, and Bruce Garcia, 14, also perished. Edmund personally knows Mrs. Balaguer’s daughter Anna Syyap. She said her two sons were very close and maybe it was God’s will that they died together because she couldn’t imagine how the other one would live without the other. Anna said they’re still grieving but life has to continue.
It’s sooooo sad.
When I was little everytime I would mention anything about death, galit agad ang mama ko. Masama daw yun, parang you’re wishing for it. But nowadays, it’s no longer a taboo to talk about our mortality. People are dying left and right. Getting sick for just no reason. We really have to accept it simply because we have no choice. I don’t want to die yet, not even in 30 years.
They say it’s written, but where? sa palad? saan dito, puro kulubot ang palad ko sa kahuhugas ng pinggan or dahil ang tamad kong maglagay ng lotion. No one would know or ever will know the truth about life or death. The only thing that we know is that the person is gone and is replaced by pain, extreme grief, loneliness, emptiness. With death comes an infinite void and distance between those left behind and the deceased
