havepenwilltravel: When 5 Becomes Three

Life is a cycle, so they say and I agree. It is a natural process to preserve and insure continuity of the species. People find mate and procreate and raise their children. In compliance with this natural process I found a mate and we have five children—Windale, Tyrene, Jowin, Migs and Nichi. Five “trouble-free” children are what we have. We were very fortunate these five religiously concentrated on their studies. Drug use and hanging out with friends are not in their vocabulary. And they all grew up.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .From top to bottom Jowin, Tyrene, Windale, Migs and Nichi

It was now time for Ate Win to find her mate and so she did to a person she knew since their freshman year in college. The 5 became four. We were all very happy for her fully knowing that sooner or later it will come as part of the natural process.

At Ate Win's wedding

Then it was Nichi’s time to go. No, Nichi did not find his mate. He found his destiny! Nichi, our youngest, succumbed to a dreadful disease he battled for more than 6 years. He was just a 13-year old kid. Before we were discharged from the hospital in September 2006 the attending physician informed me that Nichi’s case is what they term as end stage. This meant that our son had only days or weeks or months to live. I firmly refused to accept this fact. I just thought it was not right. The parent has to go first—it should be first in, first out sort of thing. We brought Nichi home very very weak. He cannot sit by himself from a lying position let alone stand on his two feet. His young body was ravaged by continuous infusion of fourth generation antibiotics and chemotherapy against the stubborn cancer cells in his system. I still refused to call it a defeat. I can see in my son’s eyes his determination to live, his desire to be with his siblings whose company he was very comfortable with. There is a promising future ahead of him. Here is a kid who is jolly, kind, entertaining, helpful and intelligent. He has great ambition and it would be unfair to deprive him of this. In one and a half month Nichi was up and about—he was back to his usual self. In December Ate had her wedding. We were all there to witness the event. Nichi was with the wedding entourage. He substituted as host for the evening reception. He played with his brothers and sisters. But happiness was short lived. The year 2007 proved not kind to Nichi. He lost his left eyesight in January. The following month the leukemia cells in his body had multiplied at a rapid rate. But he still showed no sign of giving up. It took 5 more months to force this young kid to retire on his bed. The stubborn leukemia cells were all over his nervous system. One night I told him he had bravely fought his battle but it was now time for him to rest. It was time to be with Papa Jesus. It was time to leave the pain, the misery, and the sacrifices behind. It was time to live a beautiful afterlife. He knew how much we so loved him. He knew how difficult for us to let go of him but we had to—to set him free. With a smile on his face he obliged. He nodded, took his last breath and then he was gone. It was the evening of July 24, 2007.

Life is a cycle. It is a natural process to preserve and insure continuity of the species. It is also the natural process of living and dying.

In hindsight I realized that God has been very good to us. He gave us 10 more months for Nichi to be with us. More importantly, He allowed Nichi to be at his Ate Win’s wedding the special event he had been looking forward to. He gave us a lot of people to be part of Nichi’s life. Friends, relatives, officemates, friends of friends of friends, people who we don’t even knew or met in person supported Nichi and our family.

This Thursday, July 24, 2008 it will be a year since Nichi left this world. Joseph Nichole “Nichi” Delgado, our angel in heaven, is praying for all of us.