A letter from heaven

On 30 October last year, I wrote about how six-year-old American girl Elena Desserich wrote secret notes to her parents and younger sister to convey her love to them before she died of brain cancer. Here in Hong Kong, we also have this remarkable girl who did something similar before lung cancer took away her life on 3 October 2008.

13-year-old Ng Yuen-lam, who had been tortured by illness since she was two, had had 110 operations in her short life. When she learned that she only had months to live, she started making plans to live a brilliant time with the rest of her time, including writing to her school, her teachers and her schoolmates, some of whom had discriminated against her due to the weirdness of her looks and living habits brought about by the illness. She also planned to make an autograph book with her hand prints and write two letters for her parents. Her mother found the first letter, entitled "A letter from heaven", when tidying up the things she left behind.In the letter, Yuen-lam talked about how she would have preferred to stay with her parents if she had had a choice, and apologised for having wasted their efforts to take care of her. She told them not to be sad for her, "because I believe what Miss Law (obviously her teacher) said, that 'on the two ends of a rainbow are two worlds, one is the one you are living in, the other is heaven'. I am now going to heaven and will be waiting for you there". She also told them that if they wanted to talk to them, they can pray and God will pass on the message to her.

She then mentioned the second letter. "Now that you have read this letter, wait for a week to read the other one. Don't peep. If you do, I will know, and I will give you a piece of my mind when you come."

There was, however, no second letter. She didn't have the strength to write it.

But then maybe it doesn't matter. The first letter has served its purpose of giving her love to her parents beautifully.

And there is probably another purpose, one which was by God and not by her. And that was, like Elena Desserich's letter, to inspire the world.