Another True Story...No anguish, but full of sadness

I believed Yesterday's post would have made you mad...mad over that Woman....or many called her...Bitch.

But today's true story is one which has saddened me..

1995, i remembered i fell really sick...fever and with gastric pain...my mum then took me to the clinic which i had always patronized in Boon Lay...i was attended by this new doctor. who speaks extremely broken Chinese... he's Dr Eric Kwek, that was my first impression of him..

somehow he's quite 投缘 with my family, esp my mother...maybe he's a 师奶杀手 back then. Until 1997, if i am not mistaken..he opened his own clinic in Taman Jurong. From a low tide in his career to the point where his clinic started to prosper, becos of his day to day hard earned reputation. My mother, myself and my sisters never failed to patronize him when we were really sick...from service provider-customer, we gradually became friends, friends whom we can talk about all sorts of issues, sometimes even up to half hr consultations at times. When my mum passed away in 1999, he showed up at the wake to pay his last respects...looking back, as a doc, it's highly likely to face 'life and death' so frequently...how many docs actually bother or have the spare time to even attend the wake of a patient???

in 2005, i remembered on mar 25, my sisters brought me to a 24 hr clinic cos it was late at night and his clinic has closed...(we were left with no choice)... i collapsed at the clinic and had to be evacuated to NUH Accident and Emergency department in an ambulance....my sister called him up... probably it's pass 11pm (i was too sick to remember the exact timing). He turned up at the A&E just to visit me, i could hear him scolding the doctors who attended to me and he was telling them what to do because they have given me a wrong diagnosis. After i was well enough to stand and walk again on the same night (few hours after i was put on drip), my sister was instructed not to drive me home. instead we made our way to his clinic....yes..made our way to his clinic close to mid night. When all shops have closed. he went back to his clinic just for me....gave me 3 jabs so that i could recover within days.

The last time i saw him was close to Q3 2009 if i am not mistaken...

After that i was told he's on medical leave by his wife....when i asked about him, she said that he's recovering well.....

The last time we contacted was through sms when i was trying to get from him a medical report to submit to my HR....

Yesterday i called up his clinic again....to send my regards and to ask about his condition....that was the time when i was told the truth...by his clinic assistant...

Belinda: "the clinic has been sold"

Me: "what????? has Dr Kwek's condition worsened"

Belinda: "Yes"

Me: "i sort of know that he has contracted cancer (trying to sound her out)..... where is the cancer exactly???"

Belinda:"the tumor was in his heart....u know, it's impossible to remove the whole tumor by surgery..so they only managed to remove a portion of it and the rest had to be done by radiotherapy and chemotherapy...recently his condition has worsened and he gets really breathless really easily..and he is in the hospital...."

Me: "I really hope to pay him a visit.....but i'm worried that they may not want an outsider to be there..... and whether he allows me to pay him the visit"

Belinda:"i plan to visit him tmr after the clinic closes...i check for you. if we are going down and he's ok with you visiting him, i'll give you a call???"

Me:" sure! please do!! thanks"

The call did not come.....



I got this sms from my sister at 2258 hrs:














My sis: "Dr Kwek pass away liao..sad.." ---- news was from a distant relative of his who is my sis's fren














I am really sad to hear the news...and somewhat shocked...yes i expected that he might not pull through...cos it's the heart....where the tumor was... but i did not expect it to be so fast...











Dr Kwek...RIP

I will remember you...not just as a skillful doctor who managed to cure all my illnesses up to date in the shortest time possible.. I will also remember you as my friend, someone i known for 15 years...i will remember the moments when you stood up for me at the NUH A&E, i will remember how you always teased me as a 'chemical engineer' that it was ur second choice course just after medicine when u applied for uni back then, and his "ya lah...chemical engineer" when i try to reason out with him some simple medical theories ....i will remember the days when you'll always show me new gadgets which you bought for your clinic each time i consulted you because i fell sick and how excited you can get over them and busy explaining to me the theories and how good they are.....i will remember the days when there was once i fell really sick also (high fever) and you gave me 3 jabs, allowed me to rest in the spare room in your clinic until your clinic closes and even sent me back home after that.....i will remember the days when you teased me on my 'stupidity' for trying to use 青草油 to disinfect my abrasion wound which led to serious infection....i will not forget the days which you always get so excited when you talked about the musical pieces you are going to play on piano during your church events, showing me the IT gadgets to enhance your piano performance.....i will not forget the days which you will never fail to complain to me each time i patronized you, how tired you are, traveling here and there and how washed out you felt due to the lack of rest......






Finally, you get to rest....but unfortunately, this time round, when you closed your eyes, it's for good...................








he's only 46 years old this year....even though sometimes he talks like a boy, but deep down i know that he's truly a good doctor.......he's Dr Eric Kwek Soon Kiat. My sisters and I paid our last respects to him

有人说一次告别天上就会有克星又熄灭............<离人>