In the morning of May 1, 2007, I was surprised to receive a phone call from a college friend of mine. I found it weird because she rarely calls me, and what’s even weirder was that it was so early in the morning. Before I answered the phone, I kind of had a feeling something terrible has happened. She told me that one of our college classmates just died. I can’t even begin to describe how shocked I was to hear the news.
Our friend, Remus, was only 23 years old when he passed away. His mother told us that he had just gotten home that day they rushed him to the hospital. The nurses and doctors at the hospital in San Pedro, Laguna told them that he urgently needed to undergo kidney dialysis and surgery because there was water in his lungs. They waited hours for the surgeon to arrive, but he never did, so they had to contact another doctor. His mother wanted to move him to another hospital but the hospital people told her that Remus, at that point, was already in a critical condition, so moving him would only cause more complications.
When the other doctor finally came, it was already too late. Remus was at the peak of his suffering, he couldn’t breathe due to the water in his lungs and his heart couldn’t take it anymore. He died of cardiac arrest while in surgery.
Remus’ mom told us that before he was taken to the OR, he was crying and was already saying goodbye to her. He already knew he wouldn’t make it. Her story made the rest of us well up.
Remus was one of my closest guy friends in college. He was kind, generous and thoughtful. As a working student, he was very focused that he managed to graduate and pay for his school expenses on his own. But the thing I remember most about him was after college, when we both got jobs in the same call center company in Ortigas. Whenever our schedules would meet, we would take our breaks together and just talk about college life and our friends back in Bacolod. Two months later, I left that job (because I didn’t think I would survive another day as a call center agent) while Remus stayed for another year. I saw him a few times after that with the rest of our blockmates. A week before he died, he texted one of our friends to say that he wanted to see all of us again on May 5, a Saturday. He said it’s been an awful long time since our last reunion.
That Saturday, we got together to see him at his wake.
(This is the only photo I could find of him online. Someone deleted his Friendster account. Hmm.)
May 1, 2008 marks Remus’ first death anniversary. Every once in a while he would come to mind and I would think about how his life would have been if he hadn’t died. I miss my friend. The rest of us in our batch would grow old and fulfill our dreams while he will forever be a 23-year old. :(
So sad..I’m sorry to hear about your friend, Jon’. There’s always a reason why such things happen and there’s the consolation that he’s with his Creator now.
I’m just even more sad upon learning the events before he passed away. I mean, if there had been an available surgeon that time, maybe it wouldn’t have been too late for Remus. It’s really sad and unfortunate for us that the health care in our country can be really that bad. Tsk tsk.
That’s sad, Joni :( Here’s to remembering your friend..
oh sad naman. :(
Oh God. Suddenly there were chills rising from my spine to my arms. What makes it more scare-inducing to me is the possibility that what happened to him COULD happen to me. I have Kidney complications but right now its under proper maintenance, I just have to control the food I eat and proper medicine to accompany it. I’m sorry.. I don’t know what to say to make you better, there may be nothing left to say but here’s to remembering him.
This reminds me to really take care of myself better starting at this very moment. We seem to go old really fast nowadays that scares me as well, so gotta take care of ourselves before time runs out for all of us.
I got here thru Juice’s Twitter btw, so.. yeah I’m a new stranger to your blog. :)
that’s sad. when i was in high school i also had a batch mate who died of lupus. then in first year college, another former school mate died of heart attack. both of them didn’t reach 18.
It’s really sad when people die young… I’m curious, why did the doctor never show up?
Anna: Welcome! :)
It was Remus’ kidney complications that triggered it. It worsened just before he died. I guess he wasn’t extra careful with what he ate even after his doctor warned him about it. Yeah, we should control what we eat. Lay off anything that’s harmful. Easier said than done? :)
Aurus: I didn’t get to ask that question last year, sorry. I imagine, he got stuck in traffic or he got busy with something else? Heh. The nonchalance of one can cause the life of another.
langya, sad. :(
im soo late for the mom’s day meme jon.. but ill still work it out maybe tomorrow coz it’s my mom’s bday.. hehe..
dasig lang no? it’s been a year na gali since remu’s death.. lot fo wonderful memories came flashing while reading ur post… i can still remember one regular programming session with kooks, i was making kulit that he would bring me buko pie from laguna.. hehe :) he was also one of my programming mentors… he’s got a really great mind! as in…
those were d days… :) everything happens for a reason :)
that’s sad. after reading the post, naluha ako.T.T
it was so sad Joni..I can’t imagine myself loosing a friend in a very early age. I treasure them as i cherish my family..I think,God has a great plan for him in heaven..^_^