After the 1960 Batch,
Medical entrants, Colombo, get together at Negombo, Sri Lanka recently, my
friend Karalliedde (Karals), had these reminiscences of the late Tissa
Kappagoda.
Tissa knew during his early days at
Trinity College, Kandy that he was different from the other boys at school. The
slightest trauma would bring on lumps under his skin and prolonged bleeding which
needed urgent medical attention. He was
suffering from Haemophilia. This did not prevent him being an active spectator
at all the sports activities at Trinity.
Pain was a recurrent part of his
life. He learnt early in life to bear with pain. He got the message that ‘What you cannot cure, you must learn to
endure’ during his boyhood.
Once while having a chat with
Karals he had told him that ‘Pain as a
symptom made one to get angry. The anger invariably was directed at the carers.
The carers were invariably the near and dear. A sharp tongue could wound, worse
than a sword’. Tissa learnt to control this anger and was remarkably successful
at it.
Karals recalled a time when Tissa undertook
to drive his car on a long journey. He had severe pain from a swollen joint,
but he bit his lips and drove on. When Karals met him at the end of the drive
Tissa’s lips were bleeding.
Caring for others at any cost to
his physique, was Tissa’s philosophy in life.
‘At the going
down of the sun and in the morning
We will
remember him’.
Philip G Veerasingam
