Love Him For Me

Chapter 15-Who You?

Who am I?

For the first time in 28 years, Dara has never been so unsure of who she is and where she came from. In that so many years, she didn't care about who her father is nor why he never came forward to get her. But after learning that her real father is still alive and still cherishes her departed mother, there's a part in her that suddenly wanted to meet him. Who is he? Does he know I exist?

Not only that, after reading her eomma's post mortem records there are details on it that seems to be amiss.

Two babies were born.

When Dara found the courage, she approached Uncle Min to ask him about her birth, hoping he can shine a light on her about it.

Dara saw him downstairs by the dining table. She approached him with her eomma's documents in her hands.

"Hi uncle, do you have time? I just wanted to ask you something." Dara asked his uncle while reading a newspaper.

"Sure Dara, have a seat." Her uncle replied, offering the empty chair beside him.

"Uhm... on the day I was born, you operated on my heart, right? What exactly is my condition and how did you operate on me." Dara asked casually.

Uncle Min is used to Dara asking him for some pointers about medicine and science but this is the first time she asked him about her own opeartion and her condition back then when she's still a baby.

"Alright. You had ventricular septal defect (VSD, sometimes called "a hole in the heart) or a hole in the wall between your heart's left ventricle and right ventricle when you were born. The doctor even thought you were dead when they didn't hear you cry when you came out. Your VSD is relatively small and we thought it will not be a problem and it will gradually close on its own as you grow.
But as days passed by, we saw that you are getting weaker so we decided operate on you by stitching the hole closed directly."
Dara listened intently to her uncle. His knowledge and years of experience in medicine always amazes her.

"But see--" Uncle Min continued. "-- after a month we saw your condition didn't improve and even worsen so we decided we need to operate on you again and we have to use a different approach this time. My collegue and I decided to try a new procedure. Well, no one has ever tried it before as it involved risks not only for the patient but for the donor as well. Luckily, we found a perfect match and a very suitable donor."
Dara looked quizzically at him. Why would they need a donor? Dara thought.

"Instead of using the traditional patch of manmade surgical material over the hole, we used parts of the donor's healthy heart." Uncle Min said after he saw her eyebrows creasing.

"Eventually, the tissue of the heart heals over the patch and stitches and 6 months after your surgery, the hole in your heart was completely covered with tissue. It was a considered a miracle because after a week of the operation, you're condition improved significantly." He finished.

Dara saw Uncle Min's eyes glisten as he talked about his successful operation on her. But when he looked at her, although he is smiling, why does she saw regret--even sadness in his eyes?

Dara reached out to touch her uncle's hand.

"Thank you." she was teary-eyed herself. She was thankful to him for saving her life. And to that donor too.

"Uncle?" Dara asked him.

"Hmm?" her uncle replied still looking at her.

"Do you know who that donor or her family, perhaps is?" She asked. "
"I wanted to personally... thank them." She choked at her own words as she try to hold back her tears.