On February 2, this year, she would have been twenty seven years old.

But three weeks before the date, Kathrina Tiudy passed away.


It came as a shock for all of us. Not only was she young. She was lively and outgoing. Popular among our batchmates in SPCP, well-loved in China Bank and in her countless circles of friends. With her wisecrack jokes and tariray ways, she was the type who brightened any person's day with just simply her presence. She was the life of the party and the light of her home.

She was a budding Marketing Officer and Entrepreneur. Having a discriminating eye for fashion, and a flair for fashion design drawing, she dreamed of opening her own clothing and bags store.

And when God decided to take her away, everyone-- her family and loved ones, almost thought it was all a bad dream.

Kathrina was sick with asthma two weeks prior. On January 6 (Wednesday), when she was sick with fever, she went to Medical City (Ortigas, which is closest to her residence) ER for a check-up. The doctor said it was UTI, gave her some antibiotics and asked her to go home.

On January 8, when she vomited blood, they rushed her to the hospital, only to find out it was dengue.

By January 9, Saturday morning, she was already in a critical stage. The worst case of dengue, the Med. City doctors said. It was stage 4 and hemorrhagic. Each hour, she was getting weaker. And the only hope was a miracle that her body will grow stronger and a blood dialysis will be possible.

By seven o' clock in the evening, her family and friends clutched rosaries and held hands, praying hard, crying, begging -- Please... don't take our Kat, our Tiuds away. We silently wished it was us who was bitten instead, for our body would have taken it. But not Tiuds, who was already asthmatic before her sickness.

By 10 pm, we were relieved to find out her blood count was increasing. Thank you Lord! Thank you thank you!

At 12 m.n., the hemorrhage reached her brain. Her heart was beating because of the machines, the rest of her gone.

--

Along with our grief, it's hard to be bitter and angry, knowing that she would have been saved if...if...only if a concerned, intelligent and sympathetic doctor thought twice and had her checked for dengue. Was that so hard to do?

Tiudy, our Tiudy could have been saved.

And to add insult to so much pain and grief, her medical bills amounted to P700, 000, 00.

Up to now, only 100,000 has been paid and her family is still on promissory note.

--

This February, we are holding a fund-raiser for Kathrina Tiudy -- to help her family with the bills and hire a lawyer to take this case further.

Any kind of support will be appreciated.

Today, we try to surrender it to God, knowing that Tiudy is already with Him, relieved of suffering and blessed with eternal happiness.

We are thankful for the amount of time, almost twenty-seven years, we have been blessed to live side by side with such a wonderful person.

And yes, on February 2, Kat Tiudy celebrates TWENTY SEVEN in heaven. And for us here, in the mundane physical world, we can only look back to the fondest memories with her, look up, smile and hope she sees us so she will know how much she is loved... and hope that no one will ever be the victim of misdiagnosis again.

*please text me at 0928 395 0813. we need your support for venues, bands and ticket sales. thank you so much!*