Saying Goodbye...

Have you ever been through something and you know it's happening but it feels like you are watching a movie? It's how I've been feeling since Wednesday.
On the weekend we received news that my cousin Sean was in the hospital and had major surgery where they had to remove a large part of his colon. He was in ICU but remained stable. On Tuesday we heard he had gone back in for surgery but it was minor and just to fix a broken blood vessel. He made it through and was resting comfortably.
My phone rang again at 1:15a.m. Wednesday morning and I knew right away it wasn't good news. Sean had taken a turn for the worse and my parents were on the way to the hospital. 15 minutes later Camilla was on her way. 15 minutes later I received 'the' call. He had slipped away. Fariena picked me up at 2:30a.m. where we headed to Centenary to see Sean for the last time. If my parents hadn't taken us to his room I would not have believed it was him. It will not be my last memory of him. We had our annual Rayman New Year get together at his house and that is how I will remember him.
Sean was only 43 and leaves behind a lovely wife,two beautiful children (11 and 6) and his sister Allison. The tragedy of this whole situation is that in 1994 Sean's mom (my Auntie Julie) died suddenly of problems with her heart. 5 years ago Sean's sister Susan passed away suddenly after childbirth and my Uncle Derek (my Dad's eldest brother) had a heart attack and passed away when he heard of Susan's death. Now Sean leaves us to join my Uncle, Aunt and cousin Sue.
Tomorrow morning Sean will be laid to rest. It is going to be a very sad day and not one that I am looking forward to. However, as hard as it will be for me I can't imagine what his wife, children and remaining sister must be going through.
Goodbye Sean. We'll remember you fondly.