Dear friends

I chatted with a friend online last night. His name is Kelvin and he's just home from being hospitalized at SGH.

Kelvin as soft tissue sacoma. Its an unusual type of cancer that attacks the soft tissue in our body. Because of his cancer, he had his left leg amputated from thigh down sometime last year. I got to know him from a sports event by the Handicap Welfare Association at Ngee Ann Poly some time early this year. He was perfectly fine at that time and was one of the most positive young amputees I got to know. He showed keen interest in being a volunteer for the camps I organize. He volunteered and was very active in helping other amputees at Alexandra Hospital.

Kelvin's cancer has reoccurred. They found it in his lungs this time. He was hospitalized for chemotherapy. He is now home for 3 weeks of rest, and then followed by 5 days in the hospital again for the chemo treatment. Chemo is painful. It kills the bad cells as well as the good ones. Side effects include loss of appetite, loss of hair, nausea, vomitting, diarrhea, fatigue etc.

Kelvin is struggling to be positive. It's so easy for us to tell him to be positive, be strong, fight, etc. But its really difficult when he's the one facing the treatment and undergoing the physical and mental trauma. He can still smile and joke with me and with Jason, but he is at a loss of words to describe how he feels. He had only one word. Lost.

I have so many thoughts about him. About cancer. About my father (who lived with it and fought with it for 7 years). About life. Life is so fragile. We have our health and hey, I think that's the most important thing. We may already know this fact but we tend to forget to cherish what we have.

Please, in whatever way, help me pray for Kelvin.

Thanks...