Christine Chia and Simon Ong cherished every day they had together — especially for the past nine years — knowing that with each passing day, they were moving one step closer to the possibility of her death. In 2007, she was diagnosed with kidney failure, but did not respond well to dialysis. He immediately offered to donate his own kidney, and as luck would have it, their O blood types were a match.
The couple met when they were 17, and got married at the age of 26. They expected the transplanted kidney to give her about 12 more years, but unfortunately, she passed away at the Singapore General Hospital on Tuesday (Oct 18) from heart failure, which resulted in complications with her kidney.
In the nine years they had together after the kidney transplant, 43-year-old Chia left her job and travelled the world with 44-year-old Ong to countries like Japan, Taiwan and Italy. The pair wanted to take in the sights and immerse themselves in new culture before they ran out of time.
Although they got the keys to their new condo a few months ago, Chia was feeling under the weather since the beginning of the year. According to The New Paper, her final words to Ong were that of gratitude, to thank him for the blessings in her life.
