Rosario Rapsing (center) with first son and daughter NJ and Nikki
Rosario Rapsing
April 7, 1970 – December 2, 2005
She's married to Sean Dominic De Luna with 4 kids: NJ, Nikki, Neana, and Iggy. She was a gregarious person who lived a life of mirth, no worry and full of compassion.
Her Last Song Was of Praise to God
20 December 2005
It was the 2nd of December 2005, I was on my way to Calamba, Laguna to surprise my sister, Rosario Rapsing, who was scheduled for an MRI test. She was confined on November 30, 2005 at Paete General Hospital after my mother saw that she could hardly stand because of head pain. I called her a day after she was confined (Dec. 1) and all through out our conversation, she never complained of anything, was laughing, and told me not to worry because it's just minor pain. Still, I didn't tell her that I'll surprise her today.
On my way, my cousin who was with her and knew that I'm coming, sent me a message in my cell phone that they were already done with the test and that they were on their way back to Paete where my sister was still confined. It was an hour and a half drive from Calamba to Paete. After 10 minutes, my cousin sent me another message saying that my sister can't breathe and they're taking her to the nearest hospital (Bay Hospital). Later, my cousin advised me to just go home as they are already on their way home too.
My world started to crumble, something had happened to my sister but they wouldn't tell me. I decided to drop in Bay Hospital where my sister was last rushed and the doctor there uttered the words I incessantly prayed not to hear, "She's already dead. Your sister was declared DOA at 3:30 p.m. due to cardiac arrest caused by ruptured aneurysm in the brain." I felt that it was my brain that's going to explode next. What should have been a happy surprise for her became a remorseful surprise for all of us.
My sister never complained of anything until she was hospitalized. She was the kind of person who would selflessly share all her graces but not her pains. She doesn't want us to worry that's why she kept on either joking or singing whenever we're together. She's a professional singer whose band travels a lot in Asia.
In the hospital record, she reported that she started feeling minimal head pains in 2000. That was five years ago but none of us thought that it could be serious.
A day before she died (Dec. 1) our eldest sister related that they both weren't able to sleep that night because of her unbearable head pain, and even recalled of her asking our mother, "Nanay (Mommy) am I going to die?"
I was later informed of some incidents like she had to control herself in the MRI room for about an hour even if her head pain is already intolerable, that her blood pressure went up after the test, and that the MRI test revealed that she had hemorrhage in the left side of her brain.
After they left Calamba, she rested in the arms of my mother. That was when my mother heard her humming. The siren of the ambulance made my mother confused her humming with that of a song from a radio. When she was informed that the ambulance has no radio, that's when she found out that the beautiful sound was coming from my sister. She hummed for about 15 minutes which my mother said seemed to be a song of God's praise though she can't really recognize the song. When she stopped humming, she looked at my mother straight point blank. She was looking at our mother's direction but our mother knew that she wasn't looking at her. My mother already started to panic as she felt something was already wrong. My mother then closed her eyes and as she did, tears flowed from my sister's eyes.
The stories in this website somehow eased my pain for our great loss. At the same time, I question the incidents that happened. I question myself for not feeling her pains, the hospitals for not acting promptly, and then I also question God as though He gave us a wonderful blessing, my sister, He also had to take her so shortly.
Right now, we just take comfort to the idea that the last song she sang was a song she tried to learn to sing at that time from a group of angels who accompanied her to heaven, a song of praise to God.
Discussion, comments, or questions: Rizaldy Rapsing
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Rapsing
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