Thursday was a very sad day. It was the funeral for 3 year old Makoda Suen. You might've seen her story on the news or in various newpapers such as the Burnaby Now and the Vancouver Sun. Her parents adopted her a few years ago from China. Ray went to high school with Dave. In June of 2005 Mak was diagnosed with leukemia but went into remission last year. She had a rare type of leukemia and her parents were trying to find a bone marrow donor here as well as in China where she was from. Unfortunately it came back this year. Mak had her bone marrow bioposy and the leukemia was still present in 50 to 60% of her bone marrow. Complete remission would have been less than 5%. She wasn't given much time to live in this condition. She had underone chemo last year and this year. The make-a-wish foundation granted to Disneyworld in May and then she passed away on June 22.

There was a lot of media outside the funeral home with their cameras. I guess this was a high-profile story. There were a lot of touching videos of Mak as well as eulogies. I've never been to a funeral for someone who was not elderly so it was very sad. I've also never been to a cremation. After the funeral home service we went to the cemetary for the cremation. I had no idea what to expect. I asked another friend about it but he hadn't been to one before either. When we went inside the building it was just like the funeral home with rows of pews. They told us that if you didn't want to view the cremation you could wait here.

We were then led into another room that had a curtain drawn across a window. The door of this room said it was the witness room. My first thought was the witness room you see on TV when someone is watching someone on death row being executed. We passed by Mak's casket which was on a gurney and I placed my hand on it and said goodbye to her. After everyone was inside the room they closed the door and the curtain was opened. The parents, 2 other people and one employee were down below where there were 2 big metal machines. We couldn't hear what was being said but it looked like he was giving instructions on what to do. Mak's casket was wheeled into that room on the gurney and then pushed through the opening of the machine. I guess it was an oven. Dave and Joyce clutched each other for a while sobbing. It was so heart-breaking to watch their pain and sadness in saying good-bye to their little girl. I was crying so much that my tears were just dripping on the floor. Many people in the room were sobbing a lot too. Finally Dave pressed the button on the oven, I assume this must've started the fire going. It's hard to explain the emotions I was feeling then as my heart reached out to them in this very traumatic and heart-wrenching moment. They came back into the room as they composed themselves and Joyce managed to squeak out a few words that everyone was invited to the restaurant.

There were 4 tables at the restaurant. All of Ray's usual high school friends and their wives were at our table except for Simon and Ly who went back to Victoria after the funeral and another wife who had to go back to work. One couple came down from Salmon Arm.