2009 started off with a lot of love. Friends and acquaintances gave us hope by giving us the financial support needed for Luth’s medication. And it was such a massive outpouring of love and support that it gave me hope things were going to swing our way.
True, I had been notified that my contract, along with all my other officemates, was being pre-terminated a lot earlier because of the US recession – but I didn’t think it would be difficult to find new work. Boy was I wrong.
Everything started to get desperate by May. I had only asked friends for help for 3 months (which I felt was more than enough to ask of them) and I was no longer earning anything.
I got my break in June, when a huge global IT software company took me in. The pay was a lot less than what I had been getting – but this time it was for a regular appointment – so the job came with full benefits. But challenges remained – the biggest of which is of course, Luth’s battle with cancer. By then it was obvious that the cancer was still there and I just did not have the funds to continue her previous medication which had seemed to give us hope.
We got another break in August, when we learned that a generic version of Luth’s wonder drug was selling for a tenth of the price we had been paying. But it was more difficult to source, as we had to find our own channel to India to acquire the medicine. Luth’s cancer turned for the worse in September and she had to be confined again. Friends once again came to the rescue as they helped us with funding for medical expenses. We soon got our medicine from India, and Luth was discharged after a month of confinement. But this time Luth would be unable to walk out of the hospital.
To date Luth is still bed bound, and not yet able sit up nor much less walk about. But she continues with her medication and physical therapy and she grows stronger everyday.
My biggest challenge right now remains to be funding. I can see it easing up by middle of 2010 when part of our monthly payables will have been completed. But between now and then I really don’t know how I’ll make it 
The year ends again with friends – in a very surreal setting: a friend’s new bar is being set up in a building which was built in the 19th century… it has some ways to go but it looks promising. And the friends who come to share a drink are ones whom I haven’t seen in a very long time. And their mere presence comforts.
And now as the year draws to a close, I am still adding new found friends in Facebook, and the friends who have been there for a while make their presence felt and continue to give hopeful wishes for 2010. So as I look back to 2009, I see how difficult the year was and I realize that I made it through because of the love of friends. Thank you all!
Cho
