Hope

She was gasping for air as though she was dunked into water. She had layers and layers of blanket covering her from her neck to her toes, and yet she was still shivering. A body temperature of 41 degrees Celsius this is a symptom of a deadly infectious disease. Doctors were rushing every where with their clip boards, and by their side, were nurses who were describing to them the patient’s symptoms to them. It was already three months, two days since the first case of sars in Singapore. Mistie, an air stewardess, started coughing very badly after her latest trip to Sichuan. She was admitted to the hospital by her family as they matched her symptoms to the latest infectious disease, SARS.

She looked around, curious about her surroundings. She was hospitalised a day before and was already diagnosed with a serious case of sars. She slipped in and out of a coma which has been occurring since she was admitted. A thought invaded her mind.

“What if I die?”, She whispered to herself. “What will happen to my family members? I have not even started my own family. “as she muttered these words, tears started to well up in her eyes.

“Why did I have to go? I had a family gathering on that day. I should have stayed in Singapore for the gathering. Instead…..I let greed take over and went to sichuan. So what if there are cheap and high quality stuff.” And as she muttered, another tear rolled down her pale cheeks.

Deep lines were engraved on her flawless forehead. Her heart started to race. Beads of perspiration started to roll down her cold, pale face. She started thinking of her past, the happy moments and the emotional ones. She pondered about her possible future and then, she slipped into a coma. When she started to sober up, she could hear the doctors discussing about her situation.

“Her situation is far worse then the hundred others we have treated. I… don’t think that she can survive this ordeal. “One of the doctors said to another. And the other doctor nodded and sighed in despair. He stole a glance at her and frowned. That was the last thing she could remember before she slipped back into the coma.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she watched her childhood memories flash through her mind. She was having a peaceful time until…. She remembered her first love, Darren, her childhood sweetheart.

A short sharp pain suddenly woke her up. The next thing she heard was a loud wheezing noise coming from her lungs, followed by a loud announcement made over the sound system installed throughout the hospital.

“Patent in ICU room 3 is having a respiratory arrest! Doctors please attend to her!” a female voice echoed through the hospital.

“ Hurry!” shouted a doctor to a nurse, who was pushing a cart into the room.

Mistie could feel her heart rate dropping and she started to feel fatigue. She thought that she was about to die. Memories from her short live flashed through her mind there was nothing on Mistie’s mind. She anticipated nothing not even life itself. Mistie did not expect to survive this ordeal but, she did.
She was in a constant coma. She tried to open her eyes but her eyelids felt heavy. As heavy as an elephant. All she could do was to hear details and voices of those around her bed. She heard details of the situation in the hospital. Many survived this pandemic. But at the same time, many did not. Many medical crew in the hospital died too. Secretly, she was saluting to the medical crews in tan tock sheng hospital. They worked, willing to risk their lives to save others. She was inspired.

A few days later, she attempted to open her eyes. This time, she succeeded. When she opened her eye, she saw her boyfriend sitting on the sofa in the room. She blinked several times to correct her eyesight. It was all blurry at first. When she regained her eyesight, she realised the pandemic was now over. Many epidemiologists worked together to Create a cure, to solve this global crisis.

This time, many lives were saved and it was all thanks to the epidemiologist’s team work. Mistie was so inspired by the medical crew, that she went to London and studied medicine, then came back to Singapore to open her own clinic. Her very own clinic to research and find cures for illnesses.

Thanks to this global pandemic, our world has learned many values such as teamwork and perseverance. After reading this story, I realise how valuable live is and people will do anything to survive but, in this stressful society, many people do not treasure life. As long as you live, there is always hope.