I was already asleep last Wednesday night when suddenly my mobile rang. It wasn't an expected call, and it was like 9:30pm so I already felt that it is something urgent. I was too sleepy but I managed to get up and look who's calling..it was Junville. He was one of my closest friends but he don't call me for no reason so before I could answer it, I knew there was something wrong. I answered immediately and Junville was already crying before he asked me "Did you know what happened to Aileen?" I answered "No, why? what happened?" "She passed away this morning". After hearing those words, I got shocked. I am able to reply back but my mind isn't working. I looked at my phone for quite a long time, trying to absorb the news that I got. I wasn't talking until my husband asked me, "What's wrong? What happened?" I told him what happened and he was shocked too. We have the same questions on our mind that time, "Why? Why so fast? What happened?" With that questions unanswered, I got up and called Maisie and Gilidun. They have the same reaction of course, since I guess this is the first time that we lose a friend and we didn't expect that this will happen. Not to her, and supposedly not this time.
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| mami jan, me, aileen, maisie |
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| I love them so much! |
The time that I was able to go back to bed, I began to reminisce about Aileen. The first thing that I remember is the last text that I got from her. She said that she has "bukol" on her stomach that already affects her liver so she needed some operation. She said, we don't need to worry because she will undergo chemotherapy that can help her cure it. She also asked for prayers and she said she is doing her best to fight for it. I'm not sure if she hide it from us, but she did it really good. I don't give much attention to the bad vibes that she won't recover from it..not until Junville told me that we need to visit her. He told me that the last time that he saw Aileen at the office, she lose a lot of weight and basing on the "chemotherapy" word that she said he already thought that she has cancer. I realized his words..and I was so stupid not to give her much attention back then. But I was glad that I made the effort to send a message to our friends, asking for their free time so that we can visit Aileen. They did reply to my message but unfortunately, before we can even "plan" the exact date that we will visit her, she already passed away. Junville's words really hit me when he said "We're too late". =( Yes, we're indeed too late..and we are now planning to visit her not because she is sick, but because she already passed away. =( I can't go back to sleep with these thoughts, so I've tried my best to think of our happy moments together - way back in PeopleSupport.
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| Starbucks night |
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| one of our movie nights |
I don't really remember when is the first time that we are introduced, but I remember the first time that we go out together. It was when our former Braso Team has a reunion and I told them to come with us. Aileen and Maisie are really too shy to come, but I was able to convince them. That is the start of us being close and the start of our never ending
gimiks when we were still in PeopleSupport. We have a lot of Starbucks, movie, karaoke, and
lasingan nights together. She's always the bubbly one. She loves to makes us laugh, loves to sing, loves to make fun of other people (in short,
laitera! haha!), and most of all, loves gossiping! hahaha! She was so fun to be with. I remember the last time that we had a get together, it was when Belle and Jermo visited here in the Philippines. (I blogged about it here, it was the get together post) We were teasing her a lot not only because she lose a lot of weight but because she has a boyfriend. She was actually our "star of the day". She was so happy that time that we barely saw that she was sick. I mean, we knew about her "stomach problem" but not the cancer thing. There are indeed a lot of good memories that we've shared, and those memories hurt me more of the fact that she's gone. =(
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| dinner with PS peeps |
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| us back then |
Sunday, May 20, 2012. Me, hubby, Francine, and Gilidun visited her wake at Binan, Laguna. It was also her last day, the burial will be at 1pm. We were able to talk to her
tito's,
tita's, and her mom. She showed us Aileen's mobile with her recent pictures. We can saw that in her pictures, she still managed to smile and make fun of herself even though she's in the hospital and she already knew she has cancer. One of his
tito shared with us what happened with her last two months. He said that they accompanied her to consult other doctors about her health. With a lot of tests, that is when the doctors find out that Aileen has cancer. Apparently, the abscess on her stomach (or liver..not sure..sorry) was already cancerous and she was already in stage four (of cancer). She can't have an operation anymore because the anesthesia will cause death due to her weak immune system. He didn't mention anything about chemotherapy, I guess it's also too late for that treatment. It wasn't easy for us hearing about it, especially when we realize that she knew all along since April that she had cancer and didn't tell us about it. Thinking of her last texts, messages, tweets..every word that she said before make sense now. My heart is aching and I really felt guilty not being able to see her before she died. Her mom also told us how she closed her eyes, and this part really made me cry. I look at her coffin, and I still can't believe that it's her. Before we go home, we talked to her while looking at her for the last time. We joke around and told her that we'll miss her..and we love her..and somehow we saw her face like she was smiling back..like she was happy where she was right now. And she's happy that we're there for her. It was really a good feeling and we left her there smiling too, with our hopes that what we assumed was right.
Aileen, I hope that you know how much we love you. We'll surely miss you, and we will forever cherished every moment that you shared with us. Thank you for being such a good friend. Rest in peace, our dearest friend.
