Condolences

Dylan's (or the famously known Ta Shinn) maternal grandmother passed away yesterday.

Our deepest condolences to his family.

Let's keep his family in prayer and that God will strengthen them during this time of sadness and grief.

Those we love remain with us
For love itself lives on
And cherished memories never fade
Because a loved one's gone
Those we love can never be
More than a thought apart
For as long as there is memory
They'll live on in the heart
-Unknown author-

A successful operation! Thank God!

Joshua had a successful operation.

Doctors are still monitoring him.

Heart pressure still a bit high for now, so on medication.

Let's thank God for keeping little Joshua safe and let's keep praying for speedy recovery.

Update on Joshua's report

Joshua is having mixed aortic valve disease with large PDA and corarctation (blockage of the main artery).

Surgery must done asap.

Joshua is scheduled for an operation tomorrow morning at 9 am to close the hole and unblock the artery.

Please pray for Joshua's safety and also wisdom, alertness and steady hands for the doctors and nurses.

Baby Joshua & Simon *edited*

Baby Joshua

At the time of writing, the Cheah's are in Ipoh.

Baby Joshua's lung didn't close properly, so he's having difficulty breathing. The blood circulation is also now direct - the blood passes through the heart, but doesn't stop there. (I'm no Science student, so I don't really understand)

*edited*
Joshua's experiencing something called the "Patent Ductus Arteriosus". In short PDA.

We have two main arteries. One to distribute blood to all parts of the body (Aorta), One to carry blood from heart to lung (Pulmonary artery). The baby doesn't use his/her lungs during pregnancy (Oxygen provided by the mother). Flow from the right ventricle needs an outlet (which is through the patent ductus). When the baby is born, the patent ductus should close within 24 hours. When it doesn't, it's PDA.

He's going for an operation on Monday to seal the hole, so pray that the doctors will be careful, and that the operation will go well.

Pray also for Geng Yi and Grace!


Simon

Uncle Rod, Kah Wei, Sharma, Shaun, Shuen, Sin Yee and Wei Jin (sorry if I missed out anyone - I wasn't there.) went up to Shah Alam on Friday for Simon's father's wake service. Jessica and I went for the funeral service on Saturday. Simon thanks MGC-ians for cheering him up by making him laugh so hard on Friday.

He'll be staying on to help his mum and sis wrap up some things, and should be heading back to Malacca on Wednesday. Otherwise, it'll be Sunday.

Pray that God will be with Simon and his family, and that Simon will find a Father in Him.

Update.

It's sad for me to update this on the blog but Simon's father has passed away this morning. According to the message received by Simon:

"After yesterday's surgery, everything was fine until between 5-6am. The doctor called saying my father's condition had changed due to blood pressure dropping continuously and having breathing difficulty. These resulted to him having heart-attack-like condition. Finally, my father was announced dead at around 6.30am."

On behalf of the church, we send our condolences to you and your family, Simon. On a positive side, he is a Christian, so he's gone to a better place to be with God. If I may recall what Uncle Dexter said about Raymond, "We may love him, but God loves him more to bring him back to Him."

Let us as fellow brothers and sisters continue to pray for Simon and his family. It's a tragic loss to bear, but God will sustain them and bring them through this testing time. He has always done so, and will do the same.

"In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a mansion for you." John 14:2

Prayer!

Please pray for Simon's father. He is either having a heart surgery now or later. It was supposed to be on the 17th November but has been brought forward to today. It's a surgery that will take 6 hours. Pray that God will give the doctors necessary skills and alertness while performing on his father and that the surgery will be quick and successful. Pray as well for the family, that they be strong in this hour and also for Simon, that he may be positive in his studies and other areas in spite of this matter.

Attention!

Today(Sunday) is Frederick's last day with us in MGC! OH NOES!!!! Yep, he has already finished his course and will be working in Singapore soon. It's quite sad la... because Singapore don't have good food like Malacca.

Anyway, it was great joy and fun since you came here 5-and-a-half years ago. Yep, it's been that long! The first time you stepped into MGC, I was just in Form 1! I still remember seeing this tall dude with earrings and I was like, "Wah! So modern wan ar?"

I think you're also one of two guys in church with a ponytail! The other being Geng Yi!

Back then, Mark was fetching you to church with his Saga. But 5 years later, you're the one, in your own Saga, fetching new MMU students like Sally and Kenneth. You seemed like a reserved guy at first, but then it was totally a misconception! You were daring enough to participate in the Treasure Hunt and that disproves shyness to the max!

See! Not shy to pose for the camera, unlike Sharma!

You also play the piano well, not to mention the drums, or the guitar. Heck, you can be a one-man band if you want to! It was a real encouragement to see you do what you do with the instruments despite your condition. Thank you for those times when you played for the youth and who could forget the time you chaired the youth event so well? It's just a shame we did not utilize you enough, and for that, we apologize.

Ain't you lovin' it?

As you go on to a new chapter of your life, we hope that you'll look back in this chapter and be glad. Do give any of us a call if you need anything alright? Also, continue to serve the Lord, be it in Singapore, Ipoh, or Malacca. It is sad to see a fellow Mangkuk leave, but the time had to come, and the time is now. So do take good care of yourself and spread the Mangkuk love around in Singapore alright?

This post's to you, Frederick!

Good News!

Yik How was discharged yesterday! His platelets count went back up to 100+ so the doctor was satisfied and let him off! The doctors still do not know what was the cause behind the drop in platelets but according to Kah Wei, it's an idiopathic disease.

The word comes from Greek, idios meaning one's own and pathos, suffering. The term is used for diseases which arise spontaneously from an unknown cause. Something caused the platelets in Yik How to go low but whatever did what it did is unknown. Shuen says the doctors came up with idiopathic because, they felt like an idiot and pathetic for not knowing the cause of the disease.

Anyhow, regardless of history, let's just be thankful that Yik How is alright again and thank God for His mercy.

Please do pray for Joel. Uncle Rodney messaged saying he fractured his ring finger in school yesterday. Pray that he may be able to recover properly and be healed!