An Angel from Birth

It was around 10 am this morning when I received my wife's text message about the death of Seantel, a friend's daughter. I was shocked with the news and paused for while after reading the message and can't help but weep.

The last time I heard about her before this news came was they rushed her to the hospital because her heart suddenly went enlarged. At first, I have no idea what exactly has caused her condition. I've heard her relatives saying about heart problems so I thought it was a kind of in-born heart disease. Most of all, I didn't even expect that her condition was that serious and could even lead to this very unfortunate incident. She died of a rheumatic heart disease.

Tracing the medical history of this illness, it all started with a strep throat, a kind of sore throat caused by Streptococcus pyogenes bacteria. It went untreated resulting to a rheumatic heart disease. Rheumatic heart disease is a condition in which the heart valves are damaged by rheumatic fever.

Sheantel’s death could partly be blamed to her mother, Teya, who is a good friend of ours. She cares less for her daughter and most often, she would ignore advises from families and friends about her daughter's health condition. The other part of the story could perhaps be blamed to poverty. As single mother who solely raises her child and does not have a permanent source of income, maybe she doesn't have the money to spend for her daughter's medications. But still, this isn't enough reason to give up. We may sometimes feel that we are stretched out to the limit of our capacity but if you really care for someone you love, you can find ways to save their lives. There are a lot of means like community health centers or public hospitals that can offer immediate medical assistance or even free medicines. Or, she could have asked assistance from friends and relatives who are willing to spare a few bucks before the situation became worse.

The end of the story is a lost of a beloved one. It's a sad thing in life that we realize the importance of a thing when it's too late to matter. Up until this writing, I still could not believe that Sheantel has passed away.

Rheumatic heart disease can be prevented by treating the root cause, which is the strep throat, through antibiotics. This will help prevent the rheumatic fever from occurring. Though the disease is not so common nowadays due to the widespread of antibiotics, but the fatality is very serious.

Seantel was so young to die. Another sad part of her life was that she died without knowing her father. I think she didn't even get the chance to see a picture or an image of what her father looks like. According to Teya’s story, Seantel’s father has not showed up from the time she learned that she’s pregnant with her. She is a less fortunate child, who was born with a less fortunate life, but I'm sure; she's an angel from birth. This is perhaps the reason why God took her away that early. I sobbed for her death but I feel happy too realizing that she is now with our Creator, and has rest in peace.

I saw my daughter Fiona cried too upon hearing the sad news about her playmate. I know my daughter is still young to understand everything that's happening around her but I'm sure she can already feel the grief of losing someone who has been a part of her life.

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When my younger brother died two years and nine months ago due to a vehicular accident, it was a big turning point in my life. I came to realized that twenty three years has passed but the time I spent with my brother wasn't enough to show that I love him so much. In front of his lifeless body, I cried so many tears realizing that I should have done more good things to him when he can still hear the words I am saying, see the things that I am doing, or feel the love I have for him.

But for whatever reason a person dies, it always boils down to one thing- life is short. We'll never know when God will take our lives. It's a lesson we need to learn and a fact we need to be aware of.

Our time is often occupied by our job, our friends, or our personal stuffs. Love ones or our families are sometimes set aside and put to a less priority line. I was guilty of this. I admit it. So I started assessing my priorities and realigned them to what I think can best benefit my family and me as well.

Now, I've learned to appreciate my wife limiting me from going out and hanging with friends at night. I can now value the time I spend staying home cuddling my kids and watching TV with them, or engaging in small talks while in bed with my wife about things we need to settle on or sometimes topics that are even non-sense. But it becomes meaningful because time spent with love ones cannot be bought by money and is more precious than anything else in this world.