2009年聯合報選出最讓台灣人難忘的背影的施少偉醫師.JPG
On an evening in November, under the leadership of the superintendent of St. Mary’s Hospital, all the staff and Parish Priests went to Taimali. We went there to join in a rare and special wedding. Both the bridegroom and his bride were over 80 years of age.
The wedding had been delayed for some sixty years. The wedding was the greatest wish of the old aboriginal woman Nu-Wan who was suffering from throat cancer. Nu-Wan is the daughter of the chief of the Rukai tribe. They live in Pingtung. While she was still in school, her older schoolmate introduced a nice boy to her and showed her a picture of him. She fell in love at the first sight. She agreed to keep in touch with him. He is an old bridegroom who is also an aborigine of the Paiwan tribe living in Taimali. He was a Sergeant in the Japanese army during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. But just because at that time he was nothing but a civilian, the girl’s family still objected to him marrying their daughter and didn’t welcome him into their home. What is more, she was stripped of her position as a daughter of a tribal Chief.
Nu-Wan went all the way to Taimali to live with her lover. They managed to survive as poor farmers. The grandfather was poor at verbal expressing himself verbally, but he was good at putting his
feelings into harmonica musical tones. They had seven sons and daughters and lived a peaceful life. It was a pity that Nu-Wan had lost contact with her family in Pingtung. In August of this year, eighty-two-year-old Nu-Wan was transferred from Mackay Memorial Hospital to St. Mary’s Hospital. She was
receiving chemotherapy in Mackay Memorial Hospital. Because of great pain from her wounds, she was restless. She was in poor physical condition. She felt the treatment was bad for her cancer in the throat.
She longed to go back to her mountain home, listening to Grandpa’s harmonica.
Mackay Memorial Hospital sent her to St. Mary’s Hospital that has the only hospice care in Taitung. St. Mary’s Hospital was able to control better her pain. The doctors and nurses went to her home in
the mountains to cure her wounds on a regular schedule. Another three months have passed by. The terrible cancer is endangering her health. Her condition goes from bad to worse. She often lost her consciousness. We all knew what is going on. One day while cleaning her wounds, the nurse asked her what she would like to do. Nu-Wan said, “I dreamt I had a formal wedding with Grandpa.” The nurse repeated her dream to Grandpa. Because Grandpa was hard of hearing, the nurse had to speak as loudly as possible. Grandpa finally understood what she was trying to say. He felt sorry for Grandma that he did not marry her formally nor did he give her a wedding ring.
We made preparation for the wedding to fulfill her dream and to celebrate her 80th birthday. Their sons and daughters requested the relatives from Pingtung to attend the wedding. On that special night, we helped Nu-Wan to sit on the wheelchair and dress up in her aboriginal traditional costume. She was in bad mood. She waved her right hand feebly. We did not know what she was trying to do. We thought she was unaware of what she was doing or the head ornaments she was wearing too heavy. When we tried to take off her head ornaments, she pulled out the lilies on top of the ornaments. In fact, she was very aware of what she was doing. She just tried to remove the lilies. She said lilies are the sacred symbol of the Rukai tribe. She was not worthy to wear lilies because she was now sick then.
We comforted her by saying that everyone at one time or another in their lives get sick. It was all right to wear lilies. But she refused to wear them. Then and there a relative from the tribe’s Chief ’s family in Pingtung presented her with the lilies which he brought with him. It meant she was again recognized as a member of the Tribe’s Chief ’s family. At that very moment her mood turned from bad to good. She took the lilies in her hands instead of putting them on her head, saying to her first daughter who had taken care of Nu-Wan, “The lilies have to pass down to your daughter.”
All of us attended of the whole wedding ceremony. To our surprise, Nu-Wan stood up from her wheelchair. The Priest in charge of the ceremony loudly asked Grandpa who was hard of hearing, “Do you promise to take care of her all your life?” Grandpa said happily: “Yes, I do.” Grandpa held her hand and put on the gold ring with a big word “longevity” engraved on it.
On that particular and meaningful day, Nu-Wan looked beautiful and contented with lilies in her hand. She was as shy as a teenage girl. We were deeply affected and enlightened by Nu-wan and her family members and relatives. I heartily wish everything will go well, peacefully and smoothly with her family as lilies are white forever.
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