Life Before Death

A funny thing happen very early this morning.

Well, something that was suppose to happen did not take place early this morning... at 4:30am actually.

The alarm clock rang, and I woke Wify up for her to prepare our Sahur (Ramadhan breakfast). She said OK and I dozed back into slumber... so did she.

I woke up at 5:33am and finally... after my grogginess dissipated, I came to realize that we missed our Sahur and the fasting for the day has started.

Guess no food or drinks for us today until 6:52pm when we break fast this evening. Well, we missed Sahur several times before last year and the year before last. In fact, is quite common for everyone to miss it because we overslept.

Nothing major. It is a part of life of being a practising Muslim.

But something major did happen!

I read a full page advertisement in Life! section of the The Sunday Times newspaper.

The Ad was from the Singapore Hospice Council which read "Hi, I've got lung cancer. How are you?"

It is about death or the terminally ill.

In the main section on page 14, was a sad, yet shocking... a whole lot of mixed feeling I felt for one individual named Mr. Mohammad Abdooh Md Ali. He has lung cancer, and is blind because of the disease. He is in his final stage.

His terminally ill condition is brought about by his heavy smoking habit since he was a teenager. In June last year, he coughed-up blood and six months later he was diagnosed with cancer.

A Chicken Rice stall owner, who now depends on his wife to care for him when she gets home from tending to their stall. He has 3 children aged 15 to 22 from his previous marriage.

He intends to turn his dying moments to a positive effort to make others aware of the disease and prevent it as other may still have a chance to learn from his mistakes.

The Singapore Hospice Council is doing a video clip of him and his family every two weeks until his last day. The first episode is already available online from its website www.lifebeforedeath.org.sg.

"The second video clip to be uploaded in two weeks' time, will feature his wife talking about how she takes care of him and how she copes emotionally.

Sadly, there is no way of knowing how many episodes there will be." quote from ST's reporter Sarah Ng ngsls@sph.com.sg


A little more about Singapore Hospice Council in this photo essay.

Ironically on Friday, 29 September 2006, one Technician who came back to work just explained to me his reason for the urgent leave he had to take.

His father was diagnosed as having liver cancer and in his last stage also. His was brought about by heavy drinking since he was 15. And now he has dementia too.

Life is just too short to waste in our later years from abuse of bad habits to our body from our younger years. The price to pay is ourselves that involves our family and loved ones too.

The best we fragile mortals can do is to keep a positive mind and attitude, practising healthy habits. Love our loved ones and spend time with them as much like there is no tomorrow, as we take each step forward on our life's journey... building career and family and our faith.

We must enjoy a balanced life before death, with The Almighty as our guide on earth and the hereafter.