Michael Jackson’s memorial service earlier this week brought back fond memories of my father. He was similar to MJ in many ways. My dad was a generous man, with a matching appetite for life. In his younger days, he danced, although his footwork may not have been as fancy as MJ. He enjoyed his food, loved entertaining and was always ready to buy a meal for anyone who needed one. He loved to drive and explore new places. When he had the opportunity, he rode horses, an unusual activity for people in our society then. Although he was a businessman, he had an artistic streak too. Like Michael Jackson, he enjoyed making his own music, playing a certain stringed instrument (I think it was called the er-hu) while he closed his eyes in reverie, sawing away happily at the strings.

Pa was a self-made man who sacrificed much and worked hard to build up a business. When I was a teenager, he provided me with the money I needed to tour Europe. Then when I was a university undergraduate, he gave my mom, sister and I an all-expenses paid trip to Europe and Britain. He denied himself the luxury of vacation and travelling, as his priority was always to ensure that his family was well taken care of.

Sadly, Pa’s health deteriorated considerably from around his fifties. He had diabetes and had to give up many of his favourite dishes. The next three decades saw his health worsening. A stroke rendered half of his body almost paralysed. He developed all kinds of heart problems and was hospitalised many times. Most of the final year of his life was spent in hospital, hooked up to machines and tubes. He couldn’t walk, eat or drink on his own, or even move his bowels normally. His liver struggled with the toxic overload of the drugs. His kidneys failed and, soon, other major organs followed.

My dad had great faith in doctors. He would always take whatever they prescribed to him, no questions asked. He absolutely refused to try health supplements and wouldn’t even eat brown rice. He believed the doctors knew best, even though some of the drugs prescribed to him were unnecessary and even dangerous. My family dismissed one of his most ‘trusted’ doctors not long before he died, when we discovered that the drugs he had put him on were damaging his brain, making him delusional and incoherent. Unfortunately, it was too late.

Many drugs have side-effects. If taken for too long, drugs can be toxic to the organs and harm the rest of the body as well. Some drugs, like the powerful pre-surgery sleep-inducing drug Diprivan which Michael Jackson apparently used, are so potent that they can cause death if used incorrectly.

If only my dad had been willing to wean himself off a lifetime dependency on drugs and extreme medical treatments and, instead, let nutritional health supplements detoxify, nourish, fortify and heal his body, I believe he would have enjoyed better health and quality of life. Why did he have to be so stubborn!