All trained & practiced Anesthesiology, I cannot mention one without the other. Their friendship started after graduation when they trained at Manila's North General Hospital, Anesthesiology Department.  Ada Sison was with them too.  When Mercy was sick, Lydia Solidum-Cabel would drive almost 2 hours weekly to bring Mercy food, or a Priest or insert IV fluids into her small veins.  Claire Siazon-Reyes would fly in  frequently from Sacramento, CA to visit Mercy here in Long Island,  NY.  I jokingly call them, the Large, the Medium & the Small. The rest of the story is written in detail and succinctly by Claire Siazon-Reyes thru a transcriber, since she claims not to be good at this.  I aptly sent it today because Mercy's ashes are interned today in Pittsburg, Northern California. (by Marina)

     It was in 1967 when I met Mercy at the UST hospital interns dorm. Our beds were close to each other. It must be fate because it was the start of our long-lasting friendship.

     After graduation, our paths crossed again.  We both decided to be anesthesia residents at Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital in Avenida Rizal. During our days off, we always run to see a movie then eat American halo-halo at Shoemart. One time I wondered why we bonded together.  I believe it was because of three things that we had in common - we were graduates from Manila Catholic Schools, we had numerous siblings, and we possessed strong religious devotions.

     Eventually, I migrated to the US in January 1971.  Mercy soon lived in Hawaii in December of the same year. After a year, she lived with us in New York until she passed her ECFMG.  She stayed in New York where she did her internship and anesthesia residency while I moved and practiced anesthesia in Connecticut.  Our friendship never waned because when she went to finish her fellowship in pediatric anesthesia in Boston, we still saw each other on our days off in Connecticut. 

     After her training years, she settled in New York, first in Staten Island then in Long Island. Mercy quickly became part of the big Siazon clan.  She became the 12^th child of Mama Siazon.  It was my mom who helped her move into her first residence in Staten Island.  From then on, she was always present in all our family gatherings - birthdays, weddings, holiday celebrations like Christmas and New Year.

     She was known as a consistent latecomer during Christmas holidays.  The reason was she had an obsession that everybody should have a gift and that each gift had to be neatly wrapped and adorned with pretty ribbons.

     Everybody thought Mercy would never tie the knot until she decided to get married in September 1995 to Alberto Trompeta, a widower from Hicksville, Long Island.  The whole Martinez clan flew from the Philippines and California.  It was the happiest wedding I ever attended! Her wedding was worth the long wait which was followed by a honeymoon that was more unforgettable.  They were enjoying their honeymoon in Mexico when a violent earthquake shook the country.

     Every summer, Mercy and Albert usually picked us up in Connecticut for our annual trip to Old Orchard Beach, Maine.  We always loved eating lobster everyday.  We had our regular routine of walking along the beach, having breakfast in our condotel, and attending mass at St. Jude Church.  After that, we would stroll to the flea market at Route 1 and end up always at the Dexter show outlet where we always bought dozens and dozens of shoes for our families. I remember Mercy buying too many shoes for Albert, some of which he wasn’t even able to wear in his lifetime.

     In February 2003, Albert developed pneumonia and passed on.  I thought Mercy would move to California to be close to her family but she stayed on in Long Island.  Aside from going out with her fellow retirees in anesthesia every now and then, she kept herself busy volunteering in the church as a catechism teacher and a Eucharistic minister.  She also gave numerous charitable contributions, one of which was giving away lots of things for the homeless people.  I used to wonder why she kept buying men’s clothing when Albert wasn’t around anymore. I found out later that she was donating them to the homeless.

     In April 2005, during our trip to Divine Mercy at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, she started to complain of colicky abdominal pains that came on and off.  We didn’t know that it was going to be her last monthly trip to Divine Mercy.  I met her again in California for our class reunion in July of the same year. We shared a room together and I never had a clue that she was at stage 4 of her colon cancer.  What I only noticed was that all she ate was mamon because it was the only food that didn’t bother her stomach. 

     After a month, I received a shocking news that rendered me speechless.  Her sister called to inform me of her real condition.  Soon she underwent chemotherapy and radiation.  She was given till December 2005 to live but apparently, she lived beyond that.  On April 23, 2006, on her 63^rd birthday, she had her Celebration of Life party at Milleridge Inn, Long Island.  It was like a wedding reception with a lavish dinner and an open bar.  More than 150 relatives and friends from the Philippines and US were there to be a part of the occasion.

Mercy had a celebration of life at MILLERIDGE INN at Long Island on April 23, 2007.  In the picture from left: Cesar, Claire, Mercy, Ching, Marina, Sally and Lydia.

     This year, the Saturday before her 64^th birthday, Lydia, Marina, Larry, and I greeted her Happy Birthday.  Except for Mercy who stayed behind because of nausea and abdominal pains, we all went to mass together and had dinner at Marina’s place.  I requested a mass with a special intention for Mercy at 5:30 pm on April 17, 2007 at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan.  I stayed in New York one more day because I had a feeling that it was the last time I was going to be with Mercy.

     I was right.  God had finally ended her misery on May 6, 2007.  Though she only had a temporary life, like she said everybody has here on earth, she’ll always have a permanent space in my heart.  How can I forget her?  She was a part of a lot of my wonderful memories.  She was there in my wedding.  She pierced my daughter’s ears.  She was in all of our family gatherings in New York. I have a lot of fond memories of her in the trips that we took together like trip to Austria and Germany for our anesthesia conference, trips to Old Orchard Beach, and our trips to Atlantic City with Lydia Solidum-Cabel.

     I will always remember her as a small, simple woman with a strong faith in God and a very, big heart - always generous, selfless, humble (never bragged about having a haciendero father from Balayan, Batangas), sentimental, and uncritical of others.  With all my heart, I love her and I will terribly miss her.  She is now in a much better place in God’s hands and with that belief, I will always be comforted.

                                   CLAIRE SIAZON