The travails of those clinging to life through life-time dialysis treatment sometimes – if not often – end up quite abruptly. A heart attack or complications may take him or her in. It becomes tragic when the patient admits the suffering his family continues to undergo as long as he lives have become too heavy for them to bear.
Such was the case of Jane Lamlamag Garcia, a 34-year old kidney patient, a mine laborer’s wife and mother to two young girls who are as sick as she was.
From his own hospital bed last Thursday, Jane’s widower, Romeo, recalled it was her wish to end the family’s suffering, saying she was tired and wanted to rest.
Romeo said Jane would no longer listen to her husband’s assurances.
“Kaya mi pay met, kinunak manen, ngem ipapilit na latta nga uston ken agawid isunan idiay Mankayan ta nabannug unayen ( We can still cope with the expenses, I kept assuring her, but she was determined to end our suffering, saying she wanted to go home to Mankayan as she was too tired to go on),” he recalled.
Jocelyn passed on last December 21, less than three weeks after she went home to the mining community in Benguet. She left behind a husband now hospitalized for depression and two young girls – Princess Arcia, 6 and is herself fighting leukemia, and Cathy Sy, 4, who was diagnosed for epilepsy.
“Na-depresak unay gamin isu nga na-confinak (I was depressed that’s why I’m confined)” Romeo said from his bed at the Notre Dame Hospital here.
Earlier, the miner transported her wife’s remains for burial in Bila, Bauko where she was buried.
“Agpasalamatak manen kadagiti tattao nga timmulong ken nakipagladingit kaniami (Let me thank again the people who helped and condoled with us),” Romeo said last Friday morning.
Unaware of her decision to go home for good, Samaritans here responded to an appeal for support coursed through the Baguio papers.
Ryan Mangusan, private secretary of Baguio mayor Mauricio Domogan, had worked out two dialysis sessions support and P5,000 financial aid for Princess Arcia from Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino.
“Now that their mother is gone, Samaritans are asked to extend support to the two children, specially for Princess Arcia’s recovery from leukemia,” Mangusan said.
Those who would like to reach out to the family may contact Romeo through cellphone number 09480982437. ** Ramon Dacawi
