Saturday, December 18, 2010

TRIBUTE: THE LOSS OF A FIGHTER

I was totally shocked upon hearing the news of the death of a good friend, Mas Afzal Masaruddin. Not that I was one of the closest person to him, but him and my other good friends; we surely are bonded by one tie that is strong enough to say that yes, indeed we are good friends who walk the same path.

I first met him at KMYS, the college where I did my A Level. We were never in the same groups but I remember going for the bronze award of D.O.E which involved climbing up to Cameron Highland. He was one of those few who joined - he was so nice he carried my 10kg rucksack when I was too tired to push my body up with the heavy rucksack on (which made it probably more than 20kg total of rucksacks he was carrying).

I was despatched to Newcastle whereas he went to Sheffield. I met him every now and then back in the UK. He was constantly giving good words, inviting people to what he believes in, Islam. He was then diagnosed to have Hodgkin's Lymphoma - but I was not that close to him, to personally say how sorry I was to hear his condition.

Yet, he was a true fighter. He never failed to amaze me. Having been diagnosed with such cancer, with bouts of coughing and side effects of chemotherapy that he had to succumbed to, he still passed his final year medicine and graduated as a doctor. The last time I read his blog was quite a few months ago, then I never really heard of him and how he was doing again.... until today. I feel ashamed and speechless, to have been so busy with my own life and nonsense worries, when he was fighting endlessly in his own world - and never did I try to contact him.

Truly, he was indeed a fighter. He fought to the end. My deepest condolences to all close to him. His presence once will be remembered. May all his doings bring him to the Paradise.

Innalillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un.
Al-Fatihah.