I lost my mum nearly 4 weeks ago to cancer.

This was the third time, and the second metastasis. This time round, the spread was very advanced and encompassed her internal organs, even surrounding the port catheter.

She knew this time would be her last, so she tried to help us prepare. But it wasn’t enough. It’s never enough. I guess my emotions are still raw that I’m struggling to work and keep to life’s commitments but I try. My mother’s resilience is embodied in what she taught me as a young child through to adulthood.

This time, only a month and a week ago, she had lost too much weight for another round of chemo. The medical intervention was purely palliative: CSCI and fluids.

She passed away at 0929, not long after my father arrived after I had spent the night in hospital with her. The last thing she asked me for that morning was a sip of tea.