“I have to make a choice. I was ready to let him go already. It’s either I use it all on the old one or the young one. But he is old like me. We are going to die soon anyway. But Christopher is young. He still has so much life ahead of him. It’s better that I use that money for him rather than the father.”
“I’m not being wicked. It’s just being realistic. When you’re old and it’s time to go, then it’s time to go. I have nothing to leave Christopher except a little bit of money. If it’s all used up now on hospital bills, once the father and I are gone, he will have no money, and nobody. “
Christopher is their only child. He’s barely 18. Smart boy. Likes to dress in black. Has a bit of a pessimistic aura about him. But surprisingly, very dedicated to the local church. Jane is his mother. She’s worked as a nursing assistant in the same hospital all her life. Her pay is lower than what waiters at starbucks earn. Uncle Liew is the father. He’s a sales assistant all his life in KL. He takes the bus to work. They have no money. They have no property. But they have one son, Christopher.
Uncle Liew had been on the brink of death for the past 2 months. Complications in the kidney. Jane hospitalized him in another hospital nearby. Despite being a loyal medical staff for the hospital all her life, her lowly position as Nursing Assistant means that medical benefits are not extended to her spouse or family. With the pay she draws, she cannot afford private medical treatment.
She’s been going back and forth between working shifts and taking the bus to the hospital nearby to be with her husband. She tells me her life for the past 2 months has been from one hospital to another. She told the doctor that if it was time for the husband to go, please let him go… she can’t afford prolonged treatment.
She’s looking for a new place to stay. Her landlord has given her till the end of the year to find another place to stay. They are selling the house to someone else. The old landlord was kind enough not to raise the rent for the past 10 years. But now she’s struggling because she can’t find a decent place to stay nearby that she can afford.
I’m there because I felt that I just had to be there. I disappeared from work in the morning. I brought 3 things with me. An invitation to my wedding, a bundle of cash, and my car. The invitation because she was my fiancées Godmother.. we considered her an important person in our lives. The bundle of cash because we knew she couldn’t afford the medical bills. She never asked for it. But we felt her need was greater than ours. The car because they had no transport to bring the father home.
I didn’t have to be there. But I went anyway. Not because I must, but because I should. Compassion cannot be on a minimum requirement basis. It should be abundant and overflowing… as should all good deeds in life.
God knows how many people like Jane’s family exist in this world. Unknown, unnoticed, ordinary folk who struggle through so much yet never get recognized. It takes someone with a lot of resilience to go through what Jane has gone through an still remain strong. People like her, with no connections, no money, no influence, no power; they rely almost exclusively on 3 things – the strength in their heart, the kindness of others and the faithfulness of God. And yet their amazing stories will never be known or heard by anyone else.
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