I Hate Bad News

I hate bad news, I really do. They get me down and I feel lousy throughout the whole day. Bad news should be outlawed. No one is suppose to bring bad news. Yes, I know, it is a stupid thing to ask for but I was just saying what I feel out loud.

Okay, what brings about this stupid outburst? We have to start from the beginning. I have a friend who is also a neighbour in the block next to mine. Daphne knows the family. The husband is a school clerk and the missus a housewife. They are an average family, not rich, but happy. The wife supplements the family income by baby-sitting, much like my wife, meaning my family too is just an average family. The husband used to moonlight driving a taxi in the evenings. Life is hard here in Penang living on a clerk's salary and should I add, a teacher's.

This couple has two daughters, one 19 and the other 8. Yes, quite far apart. I don't know if it was by design or some difficulties. The wife is a very close friend of my missus. One day about a year and a half ago, when my wife visited her, she cried. She said she was pregnant. My wife asked why greet such good news with tears of sadness? She said she was already approaching 40 and that economically, they were not prepared to have another child.

Upon scanning, they found that the baby they were about to have was a boy. I could see the change in the father's face. He was extra cheerful. Like all Asian families, they too would like to have a boy to sort of complete the whole set. Soon it was time for her to deliver but we heard no news from them. It was about a month or so that my wife and another friend decided to pay the wife a visit because there simply wasn't any communication from her.

As they walked in they were greeted with tears again, and again it was tears of sadness. The wife told my wife and her friend that her boy is suffering from Down Syndrome. That was when, Daphne visited my house for Raya and during our conversation, I spoke about it. She then contacted her friend who has a Down Syndrome baby herself and that friend of hers visited the lady and told them how to handle such a situation.

I could see that the wife was cheerful once again. Having a Down Syndrome baby means full time work, so the father quit his part-time work of driving a taxi to be with the baby more. The wife who usually baby-sits about 3 children, reduced the number to only one. Things got hard, but they were happy. I could see the joy in the husband's face as he carries his baby boy around, although the baby is not really normal.

The baby is now about 7 months old. Yesterday my wife paid them a visit and was again greeted with sadness. This time it's a sadness that would not go away; a sadness that cuts deep into one's heart. The wife told her that, the baby boy has a hole in the heart. It was confirmed by the specialist in the Penang GH. I was taken aback. I was quiet for a while but then said that this condition is quite common and that countless operations have been done to correct this abnormality. Then my wife broke the knockout news. The doctors said that this particular abnormality cannot be operated on. The baby would suffer this added malady for the rest of his, it seems, brief life.

The wife told my missus that the baby could expect to reach, at most, 15 years of age, that is if he does not suffer anything serious arising from the hole in his heart. I couldn't say anything for quite sometime. The only thing that I could say is that they get a second opinion. My wife told me that they intend to do just that but private specialists are very expensive.

Yes, in the end it comes to money, which not many us average people have to spare. I know they would do whatever there is within their means. They would beg borrow or steal, maybe not steal, but they would give their lives to save this one life. That is why, I don't like bad news, I hate bad news. Should there be any, let it be the type that could be remedied not this devastating type. I hate bad news, I really do.