Lau Kok Siong.,aged 73.

My grandmother.

Has gone home to be with the Lord.

She was diagnosed with third stage lung cancer 6 months ago. The doctor said she was left with approximately 6 months to a year left. Despite this, we all prayed fervently for a miracle to happen.

For the first four months, my grandmother’s condition was okay but soon, her condition took a beating. She suffered from frequent chest pains and could hardly have the strength to move around due to her medication.

Last Sunday, 17 Feb after much discussion, we took her to the hospital.

On 20 feb, I went down to SGH to visit her and wore a pair of shades.When she saw me walked in, she smiled widely and said in chinese, “woah who is this celebrity? I could hardly recognise when you walked in.” She chatted with me and even showed me the bruises from all the injection. My aunt replied,” its okay, we are going back soon, no more injections for you!”

The doctor said she could be discharged on Friday.  My eldest cousin often text anyone present in hospital to check on my grandmother’s condition. To reassure him my grandmother’s condition, we took this picture of my grandmother. Her smile shines so brightly even despite all the pain.

Who would have thought that someone so joyful would have been gone 2 days later?

It was on Fri, 22 feb when it all started.

My brother woke me up, telling me that we had to hurry as my grandmother was unconscious since morning. The doctor told my family that she had an hour to live.We quickly took a cab to the hospital only to see all the weeping faces and hear my aunts plea for my grandmother to regain consciousness.

As I approached my grandmother, my eyes became weep as I spoke these words. “Mama I’m here. Wake up.Mama.” I see no response but small movements due to heavy breathing.

The ward was filled with our voices,crying out to our grandmother.

My aunts who took great care of my grandmother sat by her faithfully, hoping to have any slight response. Some of us went to the resting area to take a nap and eat.

At about 2.45pm, my dad ran out to the resting area, signalling for us all to hurry into the ward. We all sense the urgency and ran to my grandmother’s bed. As I was walking down the narrow path towards her bed, I could her my aunts’ wailing. I reached her bedside and saw her heartbeat rate, 43…no signal…20+ …no signal, 10+ and the signal went off.

I felt so much sadness inside me as I see her lying still on the bed. Although my aunts were all sitting by the bed next to her, I felt as though she was alone. And I felt so afraid and sad for her.

Everybody was weeping, even my dad and my uncle who rarely cried, wailed so hard that they became breathless. None of us stop weeping until the nurse took her away.

But even despite all the sadness and emptiness, we all knew that she was taken to a better place, a place that we will be able to reunite in future. Her wish was that we will all celebrate and not mourn, for she has gone to the place that she has long for all her life, which was to be with the Lord.

With that being said, we still felt empty in a way or another. And these past few days at the funeral wake have reminded me of how great my grandmother was. Not only as a grandmother or mother, but as a person. She had a heart of gold and I daresay that she is by far the nicest elderly that I have ever seen in my life.

In her colleagues’ eyes, she was a no 1 aunty. In her churchmates’ eyes, she was a faithful servant of the Lord who would serve and help out rain or shine. And in our eyes, she was a loving and God-fearing grandmother.

I remembered on the day that I went to visit her, I told her that my results will be out this Friday and she said, “ Don’t be afraid and hand everything to God. Have faith ok” No matter something bad or good happened, she was the first one to say “ Don’t be afraid, lets just praise God.”

Our family knows that she want us to carry on the legacy of love that she shared with everyone that she met and her unwavering trust towards the Lord.

And as we begin a new journey without her presence, she will be in our hearts forever. Until the day we meet face to face in Heaven.

再见，我亲爱的奶奶。

Love you now and forever, your youngest granddaughter