impending death of a friend

over christmas, i read in the papers about a 32 year old guy who had epilepsy while swimming at sentosa. he did not surface and was subsequently found unconscious by his friends. he had been in the intensive care unit since then. this guy was the only child and has had a history of epilepsy. looking at the name, i thought it sounded very nice and sunshiny. nonetheless, it did not ring a bell. my first thought after reading the article was that it was kinda sad for such a thing to happen to someone so young. i left it at that.

yesterday, bee received a surprise call from the father of one of his good friend. apparently, bee had sent a christmas greeting to this friend but he did not respond. his father had called to tell him that his son has been in icu following a drowning incident and could not reply. joining the dots, we realized that the one reported in the papers was bee's friend. and it also struck me that i had actually met this guy a couple of times before. bee was a little affected by the news. i guessed anyone would be. and checking further, i learned that quite a few of my friends also know this guy and they have all been taking turns to visit him at the icu. from updates, i understood that he has not regained consciousness since and has been kept on life support machine. in addition, bee also told me his organs have mostly failed and that doctors have asked the family to consider taking him off the life support machine.

it is a sad thing to hear. i am sure any objective person would agree with the doctors and say that it is the most appropriate thing to do. but i also can understand how difficult it is for his parents to make this decision. there is always the question of `what if...' and i can also appreciate the possible guilt that they will live with subsequently. sighs... i wish them strength and if it is his time to go, i wish him a smooth and painless journey... and that he may be surrounded by positive energy. time to let go...