May Phua’s Dad Passes Away From Heart Failure 3 Months After Her Mum Died Of Cancer

The 44-year-old let on that she’s currently “in a daze” as the passing of her dad was “too sudden”.

“It happened just that morning… He was breathless and had to do CPR… My dad has been pretty sick for a while, too. But he's a strong man. Maybe [my mum’s death] had an impact on him…” she said, revealing her parents died within three months of each other.

“My mum was also 69 when she passed away," added May.

According to May, her mum lost her battle against cancer in July. Prior to her death, she was in ICU for almost a month.

“[My mum’s passing] took us four siblings by surprise too. It was a hard journey... Her death has yet to settle in and [now] my dad... Funny how life presents itself…” she said, adding that her mum was diagnosed with stage 1 colon cancer last year.

But during the Circuit Breaker, she started suffering "constant pains and aches" so she visited her doctor, who told her that her cancer had relapsed and was at its last stage. Even worse, she had contacted liver cancer as well.

With the tragic passing of both her parents, May now says that 2020 has been an “interesting year”. When we asked her why she chose to use the word "interesting", she said: “The virus, the Circuit Breaker and how it has affected everyone's life. With all the restrictions in place, from managing the daily visits to hospital to seeing my dad for the last time.., Just a personal feeling,” she said.

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A Father's Love I did something extremely disappointing. He only had a few dollars in his wallet but he still made his way to come to me. Utterly shattered by my actions, the deafness on the way home enveloped me with guilt. He never spoke, with rounded shoulders and fallen chest he sat back and stared into space. Many days later, he came to me. "May, I have never expected you to behave like this. I'm very disappointed in you. No matter how bad or poor we are, we have to hold ourselves up high. Do not be ashamed of being poor." "You have disappointed me, now it's up to you to earn back the respect you have lost." My dad wiped his tears as he said this. This was one of the many lessons firmly etched in my heart. From then, I hold myself firmly responsible for every action and decision I make in life. To live with honesty and integrity. To be very hard-working and earn my rights to be respected. I know I'm not perfect, but I'm trying not to crack. This is my daddy. He takes it upon himself to hold the family, he bends and works himself to provide. He endures and push through months and years of solitude working overseas for years to bring food to the table. Today, he has left to join my Mom. Sigh... I can't bear to let you go. Why so fast daddy? . #onarollercoasterride #mypillarofstrength #howiremeberyou

A post shared by May Phua (@iammayphua) on Oct 17, 2020 at 8:19am PDT