Thess

I lost a good friend of mine to leukemia yesterday. I didn't know it would hurt this much to lose Thess.

We reconnected through Facebook last April 2010. Since then we shared life stories after EasyCall. We exchanged photographs of our travels. I fell in love with her stories of how she's enjoying her life--going to spas for massage, eating well, working hard, traveling in and out of South East Asia with good friends. She's having the best time of her life so to speak.

January 26 this year I received an email from her with a different tone. She wrote that  she was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia in Malaysia on September 2010. She obliged to seek second opinion in Manila as advised by her doctor. January 12 she received a conclusive report that she was indeed afflicted with the blood disease. I was in total disbelief. How can a peppy yet pure soul like her be stricken with such a deadly disease?

She refused to undergo chemotheraphy because she was very scared of its side effects. I was devastated! Mainly because I know if she refused treatment it would not make her condition any better. Respecting her for this decision, I can only encourage her to activate her faith and put on the armor of God. We have a serious battle to win here.  

4,600 miles away from her, the best I could do was seek church elder's help for prayer. I sent a letter to the pastoral assistant of National Evangelical Church to include Thess in the congregation's prayer. The church being so concerned of her health condition contacted a specialist from American Mission Hospital encouraging her to seek prompt treatment. I wrote to select international ministries to ask for her healing. When they replied, I forwarded all letters to Thess so she would know that she's not alone.  

Thess, on the other hand, continued to live. She never pity-partied. Depression was never an option. One day she wrote,"sorry, mare, di na kita tinoma kasi pa-good girl effect ako. hahaha!" I told myself maybe she's really feeling better. She obviously kept an attitude of faith and kept her heart right. I kept following up. "I'm ok, mare". That's what she would tell me every single time.

She spent more time with her family; explored places she's never been; surrounded herself with good, loving friends and yet never mentioned anything about pain. What I know with leukemia is it makes one's bones hurt so much that it debilitates the person in excruciating pain. Nevertheless, in succeeding months she posted photographs of her activities looking happy. No one can guess she's sufferring in silence. It gave me a great sense of relief though knowing, based on the pictures, that she may indeed be feeling better. 

Meanwhile, unrest in the Middle East erupted causing most of us expats to panic. The economy was badly affected. The target now is my own family--our safety and our future. To make matters worse, my father suffered a massive stroke that same month! Thess wrote to me February 29 assuring me that everything will be alright. My husband filed for emergency leave and 3 days later we were all in Calcutta. I kept in touch with Thess while I was there.

When everything settled in Bahrain after 3 weeks, we came back to resume our normal lives. Classes started officially for my daughter too at that time. My hands were full. Thess kept in touch with assurance that she's fine. And I believed her all the time.

June 16 I wrote on her wall asking how she is. I didn't get a reply. I thought she would write back later on because she would never ignore my message or any person's for that matter. I received a private message from Ms U, a former colleague and an old friend from EasyCall, telling me to call her, "it's about Thess B". I had a bad feeling about it but I brushed it off. I told her I can't call right away because I didn't have an international calling card. I texted her asking what happened to Thess and told her to write me at facebook.

"Thess passed away this morning. Acute leukemia." I was shocked! I refused to believe it. I said to myself, "No! It can't be. She was ok." My heart ached a lot. I cried so hard I cannot breathe. I asked myself, did I pray hard enough? Maybe my prayer was not enough. Did she go through so much pain that last hour? I thought she would be around longer.

So I called Ms U. Told me the moments she shared with Thess while seeking treatment at UST. She mentioned seeing my post left unanswered. I told her I will check my private messages again since they tend to pile up as I receive a lot of messages from family members and other friends too. Moments later I did. And here's what I found: 

 

June 16

Thess Bantigue

hello mare, musta na? para sa akin ba ung msg mo sa wall na "kumusta na bes"
anyway, i'm ok naman. tuloy pa rin ang pagpapagamot. kayo musta na dyan, ang cute ng mga pics ni ali ah.
ingat & God bless always. miss u na mare

My heart sank. 

Thess' good nature are too numerous to mention. All I know is she loved the Lord and she sought Him and found comfort in her affliction. Did we win this battle ultimately? Yes! Her strength is unimaginable to a regular person. She triumphed over pain by celebrating life instead of sufferring. She inspired many people by her positive attitude and that's how I want to remember her by. I know now she's home.  

Revelation 14:13 "Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them."




Thess