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I write this letter to correct a misimpression in the article on National Artist for Literature Franz Arcellana in the Aug. 2, 2002 issue of the Inquirer. I was quoted as saying that he had lost his will to live because of old age. Actually, that phone interview took place barely an hour after my father-in-law's death when everything was still hazy and the family was still shaken by what had just happened. I remember telling Agnes Donato something about old age and losing the will to live. But I also remember that when she pressed me for the exact cause of death, I gave the phone to my sister-in-law for a more accurate answer, as I am not a medical doctor. Actually, the whole family, especially his two children who are medical doctors, were puzzled when he first started to lose his appetite and his weight suddenly dropped. He refused to go down to the dining room for his meals and just stayed in bed the whole day. Dr. Francisco Y. Arcellana Jr., his oldest child, couldn't understand this as he found his heart to be strong and his lungs fully functional. When he would ask his father if he was in pain, he would vehemently say, "No." He refused to be examined and no one could make him even consider going to the hospital. We wondered how a man who loved life so much could just give up. The autopsy revealed the secret that he had been so determinedly hiding from his family. The doctors found that he had a malignant tumor of the prostate and that it had spread to his spine. He had been in severe pain. This realization brought tears to our eyes as it dawned on the family: the amount of suffering that he had to endure. Why didn't he tell his wife and children the truth? He probably thought it was too late for any medical intervention. Or maybe, he was just being true to what he had often said about allowing the mind to rule over matter. Nobody really knows. All that we know is that he stoically bore the excruciating pain because he never really went for hospitals, surgery, and all that stuff. But knowing him, I believe that he simply muttered to himself, in his inimitable Arcellana fashion, "Well, if it's your time to go, it's your time to go." LYDIA
RODRIGUEZ ARCELLANA,
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