Rest in peace Myrna Hernandez

I awoke on Sunday morning in Selayang to the sounds of my phone's alarm at about 6.45 am. When I switched off the alarm, I saw a message from one of my colleagues, Nina, who was in Copenhagen attending a training. The message said "Mama is gone. Please pray for us. Am arriving midnight"

Nina's mother has been battling breast cancer for about a year. She was diagnosed of having it last year, and went through an operation. She was suppposed to follow up with chemo, but the mother gave up after one cycle. It was too painful for her to bear.

Nina is a genius, obtained her Masters when she turned 23. Was already with Odegaard in Copenhagen (part time) when she was doing her Masters. Upon completion, she came to our KL office. Being the ony one amongst her siblings who has made the cut, she is also the bread winner. Sometimes I see the toll that it takes on her, juggling work and bearing the responsibilities of financing her whole family.

Last Friday, I found out from her boyfriend Massimo (he's Italian) that her mum was having difficulties breathing, so he needed to rush home (Nina was in Copenhagen the whole of last week). Myrna died in her sleep at around 3 am. Nina's sister, Annabella (nicknamed Babe) woke up at 3 am as that's usually the time her mum needed to drink. Babe found her dead, still warm, but not breathing.

Kam and I had to help them make the police report, without which no caretaker, or funeral house could do anything. You can't even buy a refrigerated coffin without it. After making a few calls to Uncle Bazari about what I need to do, and what documents I'd need to bring, and to Uncle Shahari as well to find out the location of the closest police station, Kam and I made our way to Seri Maya Condo, where they lived. The journey that should take 10 minutes, took close to 2 hours, thanks to the HINDRAF riotings (sorry Ebi, I'm going to refer to it as riotings...through my eyes lah). I told Babes to take the pedestrian bridge in front of Kampung Warisan to the LRT station, where I will be waiting at the end of the stair case. Babes cried all the way down the stairs when she saw me. Poor girl, she's about 21. Put her studies on hold as someone had to care for their mum.

We made the report at the Keramat Police Station in AU2. The riotings were kind of a blessing in disguise because it meant that only women were left to man the police station (there was one old Sikh policeman though, but he was just sitting around). Not only was the station run by policewomen, the one who did the documentation was inexperienced. Uncle Bazari told me that I need a letter from a doctor confirming the death, that letter we did not have. All that we had was a letter from Pusrawi confiming that Myrna has cancer. I explained everything to the policewoman, that I am the boss of a Filipino whose not in the country. Told her that Myrna has cancer, Anabella foud her dead at 3 am at home. This policewoman calls her boss, conversation went like this "Tuan, ada orang nak report kematian. (Silence). Mati kat rumah. (Silence). Orang Filipina. (Silence). Passport ada. (Silence). Surat doctor ada. (Silence). Ok, terima kasih"

After about half an hour, we had all the needed documents...I have to say that the policewoman, kept on writing "Cancel" as the cause of death, until I couldn't take it anymore and told her that its with an r, she laughed and made all the corrections.
After that we went to Seri Maya.

It was weird, seeing her mum lying there in the living room. Massimo was busy on the phone, calling several funeral parlours, to get the best rates. He was also surfing the web to find out more parlours, in addition to the list that our Administrator had provided him.

Massimo cried when he told Kam and I what happened since I last saw him on Friday. Being the man of the house was difficult at times like this, especially when you are only 25. Danial was walking around the house unaffected. Babes also layan him as usual. (Actually later on in the day, Dina asked me about the whole incident, I told her to ask Danial, he sked him, he said, he went to the police station, after that he went to aunty nina's house and played at the playground. Then I interjected and said, ada nenek tengah tidur kat situ kan? and he said, takda lah nenek tu dah mati)
Kam and I didn't know how else to help them.I suggested that they call someone from the St John's Church where they usually go, but Massimo didn't have the number of any of the Pinoys, or someone from the embassy. Nina called, and after the go ahead from her (as she is the financier), Massimo decided on the funeral parlour and made the calls. It was Myrna's wish to be cremated. Cremation has now been set to Friday, wake started today. Myrna will be cremated at the place near Kak Idah's house. Massimo's dad arrived yesterday from Italy. He's now taken charge as the "orang tua".

Nina has been a pillar of strength through all this. She didn't cry when I spoke to her when she was in transit in Dubai. I guess she couldn't allow emotions to take control as she needed to make very crucial decisions remotely. She cried when I spoke to her on Monday though. When everything has been sorted out. She cried because she feels blessed that eventhough this happened to her family in a foreign land, the nurse at the funeral parlour, the embalmer, the florist were all Filipinos.

I hope to go to the parlour tomorrow evening (actually today) after work (I'm still at work), so if anyone of you who knows Nina would like to join me, just give me a call.