Dear Blaise,
I think I have met you a couple of times. I certainly have met Clare a few times but we were all so much younger then.
I have been so upset by Alfie's death that I have lapsed into my usual introspective silence, wondering at what forces of nature lie behind these things;
How so many factors seem to come into play and how they collectively - never individually - culminate in such tragic outcomes.
I knew no body of my age - not a soul - from saligao before I met kind, gentle music-loving Eric in Xavier's in 1970.
It was whilst Eric was very much alive and kicking that Alfie knocked on my door in Parel,
I remember him seeking advice on chords, and I have always linked 'Nights in White Satin' to his memory cos he sang it so well.
[ I similarly dedicated "You've got a friend' (James Taylor) to his brother Eric].
Alfie turned up in
Like so many 'expats', I make my way to home to Saligao almost once every year. And each year the number of friends waiting to greet me drops. The last few years have seen only Alfie left. He was the last link I had with those heady times.
A true gentleman, I cannot forget his slightly high-pitched, infectious laugh and the wicked sense of humour.
I cannot forget his love for his wife and kids. How his eyes lit up when his children came to sit with us in his living room.
I cannot forget carol-singing with him when May and Mavis were around in the 80s. That was a choir !
I cannot forget the times we chatted on-line whilst he was at work and I was in
I cannot forget the lovely letter he wrote me before I returned to the
Blaise, let me tell you about my last encounter with Alfie.
I was in
And yet one evening, out of the blue and looking slightly embarrased, he came up to me in Lawrie's.
He had a Coke in one hand and his ECG in the other. There was something going on, and I didn't figure. I guess a couple of drinks had just taken the shine off my intuitive powers.
He wanted me to look at his ECG on the one hand, but on the other hand he denied that he had any significant symptoms. He seemed sheepishly to only want me to look at his ECG. My brain should've gone: "Whoa! what is going on here? Why is this happening?"
And I guess it did, but not to the point where alarm bells sounded.
I did take a serious look at his ECG, and it was normal. There were absolutely no changes on his resting ECG.
With hindsight, I feel that if Alfie had been more forthcoming with the history of his chest pain and/or I had pushed harder to discover it (difficult when you know the guy is a super fit athlete who leaves you walking with the stray dogs whilst he dusts up the horizon each morning), we might have been able to change things.
I know Suri turned up in
Many on saligaonet are deeply religious and will say it was all God's will. I will not. A half-competent medical system that instilled faith and trust in the local population would have been sufficient to save Alfie. In my department in
Alfie, I shall think of you each time a young person comes in with Chest Pain. I shall try even harder to make sure tragedy does not engulf those families, like it did yours.
Alfie, my next trip to Saligao will be dedicated to you and yours.
Alfie, I am immensely proud to have known someone like you.
Dear Joan, I remember you telling me on the pavement outside the pharmacy in Mapusa in 2004 that you had finally started to get over Eric's death. I shed a tear then at the saddness of what you said. I cry now.
But do take time out to look at the beauty of life around you. For in that beauty lies all that is dear to us in life.
With much love to Lynette, the children and Joan.
and regards to you and Clare
Dr Dilip Joe Dacruz FRCS FFAEM
Chief of Emergency Medicine
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