Mediacorp actress Hong Ling took to social media today (Feb 24) to mourn the death of her mum, Kaewsoda Kesorn.
Mdm Kesorn died on Sunday (Feb 23) at the age of 52.
According to Hong Ling’s husband, Nick Teo, the wake starts today and the cortege will depart on Thursday (Feb 27).
In the 30-year-old actress’ tribute to her mum, she wrote: “My beautiful and loving mummy, she is Thai, and when she came to Singapore, she knew nothing—not the language, not the culture.”
Hong Ling said her mum was afraid the actress would be mocked by her classmates for speaking Thai so she “forced herself to learn Chinese from scratch” to ensure her kids would fit in at school.
“Every time I came home, she would be in the kitchen, cooking my favourite Thai dishes, making sure I always had a taste of home. Even in her final days, after chemotherapy had drained her, she still cooked for the whole family, worried that we wouldn’t get to eat home-cooked meals anymore.”
“It was as if she was trying to give us one last piece of her, knowing her time was running out.”
According to Hong Ling, her mum was afraid of disturbing her at work and so would avoid calling her even though she missed her daughter.
She also always put family first.
“She was still so young. She spent her entire life caring for us, only starting to pursue her own happiness three years ago—gardening, practicing Tai Chi, hiking. But just as she began to live for herself, she was taken away,” wrote Hong Ling.
Mdm Kesorn is survived by her husband and their three children, Hong Ling, younger daughter tattoo artist Casiline Ang, and a son.
Casiline briefly mentioned her mum’s condition when she appeared on Simonboy, Noah Yap, and Lukeychan’s Rise ‘n Shine podcast in mid-January.
While speaking about the challenges she faced in her tattoo career, Casiline said: “The hardest part was seven months ago only. (sic) My mum went to the hospital and [was diagnosed with] 4th stage cancer. Since young I’ve never really made her proud, so in July, I had a convention, and I wanted to go and bring some trophies back to her.”
To improve her tattoo skills, Casiline slept only three hours a day so she had more time to practice.
“I won two trophies at the convention, and I really carried them home to show her. [I could see] that she was proud of me. I did all I could to [prove myself] to her, and just last week, she told us she doesn’t have much time left,” said Casiline as she choked back tears.