A Singaporean dying of lung cancer fulfills his last wish–
to play the jackpot at a casino (File photo).
Last week, a frail, wheelchair-bound Mr Tan Miah Teck
imagined he was playing the jackpot machines while fiddling
with buttons for his hospital bed.
He stopped pressing them when his family members told him that
the buttons were for the bed.
Two days later, Mr Tan, who was suffering trom the
final stages of lung cancer, found himself pressing the actual
buttons of the jackpot machines at the casino. He won S$200 and,
nine hours later, he died.
The visit to the casino to play the jackpot
machine was the 72-year-old Singaporean’s dying
wish, according to The New Paper.
And his four children went all out to fulfill it.
Seeking permission from his doctor, they spent about $200 to
hire a private ambulance and a private nurse to accompany their
father, a retired shipyard worker, to Resorts
World Sentosa (RWS).
Last Thursday morning on Dec 2, Mr Tan – who had been to
the RWS casino three times since it opened — made his fourth and
final trip to the casino. Besides being wheelchair-bound,
he had to be hooked to an oxygen tank for the outing.
Said his youngest daughter, Madam Eileen Tan, 40, “My father
suffered a relapse three weeks ago and his condition worsened.”
“He went on for chemotherapy but his condition continued to
deteriorate day by day.”
Doctors told the family that he had less than three months to
live.
It was then that Madam Tan decided she wanted to fulfill
whatever wishes her father might have.
She said in Mandarin, “We asked him if there were any
places which he would like to go to.”
“He said, ‘there’s nowhere to go, except maybe to Sentosa to
play jackpot’.”
And to Sentosa it was.
Accompanied by her mother and sister, Madam Tan said
her father was very pleased on the day they took him to RWS.
Two other siblings did not make it due to work obligations.
Switching between two jackpot machines, Mr Tan spent about an
hour inside the casino and won $200.
Said Madam Tan, “He was very happy. He kept asking us whether he
had won or lost money.”
Added Mr Tan’s second daughter, Ms Doreen Tan, 46, “His initial
outlay was $50. And at one point, he won up to $300. But then he
lost some and ended up with $200.”
“At least he won back the entrance levy that he had to pay for
my mother and himself.”
But Mr Tan could not keep up with the game for long.
They left before an hour was up and had the waiting ambulance
bring him back to the
Singapore General Hospital when he got tired.
About nine hours later, he died.
Said Madam Tan, “I accompanied him at the hospital until about
7pm before going home to bathe. At about 9pm, the hospital staff
called. By the time we rushed down to the hospital, it was too
late. He had already left us.”
“I didn’t expect him to leave so soon after his wish was
granted. I thought he could hang on a little longer.”
But she took consolation in the fact that the family managed to
fulfill his last wish.
“At least, we managed to take him there to play the machines. We
wanted to do what we could for him,” said Madam Tan.
She added that she was grateful to the RWS staff who facilitated
her father’s final visit to the casino.
She said, “They had guards there who paved the way for his
wheelchair to pass by. They also cleared a corner in the casino
specially for him to play.”
Besides playing the jackpot machines, Mr Tan was also an avid
getai fan with a passion for singing Hokkien and Chinese
oldies. But his diagnosis with stage three lung cancer two
years ago stopped him from delivering his favourite songs.
Source:
http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/12/06/man-fulfills-dying-wish-to-play-jackpot-at-casino/#disqus_thread