Inside story of Soma Thero's death

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December 12. By the time I arrived in Moscow at about 2300 hours, the office staff in spite of it being a holiday had come to the office and taken all preliminary steps regarding the next arrangements. I decided to go to St. Petersburg and attend to the arrangements of sending the remains to Sri Lanka. Along with me I took Dr. Karunanayake, N. Pemmawadu (interpreter) and Hiran Karunaratne, a Sri Lankan businessman here who was very useful for the occasion. Meanwhile I got instructions from Colombo to send the remains without a postmortem and embalming. It took nearly five hours to convince the authorities to get the body released without a postmortem and embalming. By the time the body was released to us it was too late in the evening. Meanwhile we were able to get some Buddhist monks from a temple in St. Petersburg and attended to religious rites. There were about 20 Sri Lankans to pay respects to the late Thero gathered at the time. Most of them were students. The undertakers next informed us that they would be able to send the remains to reach Sri Lanka only on Friday, December 19. We were facing a real problem as the body was not embalmed. I contacted the Rev. Thrikunamalaya Ananda Thero of Sri Vajiragnana Dharmayathanaya, Maharagama and appraised him of the situation. Subsequently, we got some instructions about the preservation of body and accordingly it was done. On the following day we got further instructions and that time the remains had left the funeral parlour. Our next serious problem was getting a flight to Sri Lanka to send the remains. Fortunately a charter flight was available to go to Colombo from Moscow on December 17. We contacted the parties concerned and were able to find accommodation on that charter flight leaving Moscow at 1820 hours on December 17 and reaching Katunayake Airport at 09:20 on December 18. The remains were dispatched from Moscow on the evening of December 17 at 1820 hours by SU531, a charter flight. I also sent J. Walpita, the husband of my secretary/stenographer - a committee member of the Buddhist Society in Moscow - taking the personal belongings of the late Thero. I also would like to bring the following factors too for further information. The weather here is very unfavourable. There is heavy snowing and the temperature is minus Celsius. This death took place in St. Petersburg over 750 k.m. away from Moscow where the weather conditions were much worse. We really condole over the untimely demise of a great Buddha Putra who fearlessly preached dhamma of the Lord Buddha. However, we feel happy that we were able to carry out our responsibilities in spite of many difficulties and obstacles. Finally I am told that various unfounded stories are going round the country over this death. It is my humble opinion that this was a natural death caused because of a severe heart attack. U.B. Wijekoon, Ambassador Footnote: Having inquired further to my e-mail sent today I wish to confirm that the cut appearing in the neck region of the Thero is the cut made by the pathologist to avoid blue spots appearing on the face due to congestion venous blood. Through the cut medical preparations were injected into carotid arteries for the above-mentioned purpose.
* * * Dr. Karunanayake's report December 6, 2003 Rev. Soma Thero has been suffering from diabetes mellitus type 2 for the last 10 years. When he came here about two months ago, before landing in Moscow he felt chest pains. With those pains he managed to fly further to St. Petersburg spending another three hours and then only the ambulance was called and he was rushed to the hospital. In the cardiology clinic in St. Petersburg doctors could place a stentor in one of the coronary arteries and to recover blood flow where it was totally absent. Then his diabetic therapy was converted into insulin. Now the glucose levels are fluctuating between 3.9-6.0 m.mole/1 litre. After treating him in the hospital for rehabilitation therapy Thero was sent to a sanatorium where pineso therapy moler observation of a cardiologist and other specialists was done. For this period Soma Thero has improved a lot. He can walk a distance of about 500 meters without feeling any pains in the chest. Today he looks very cheerful. But as any diabetic patient he has got diabetic angiopathy. One of the coronary arteries has stenosis with three atheroseborotic plaques in its lumen, according to the angiographic data. So the doctors have a dilemma whether to place three stentors in those three foci or to perform a bypass surgery. A consillium is planned on December 8 (Monday ) to make the right decision. According to Soma Thero he is not sure in this condition whether he can fly or not because the last time he got chest pains in the air. I agree with him on this point as diabetic patients may feel chest pains whenever they get into conditions with low oxygen levels. As he is in the hands of well qualified cardio surgeons now, there is no point to be worried about. Dr. K.A. Karunanayake Rupasiri Perera's letter Dear Kosala, * * * On behalf of our Buddhist Society in front of Ven. Soma Thero I handed over Roubles 167,773 to Dr. Shanthi Jayasekera. There was no other way to pay this money. This is one of the main parts of our society's contribution. We arrived at 9:20 in the morning on December 6 and we managed to be at the hospital at 10:40. I saw Ven. Soma Thero for the second time and after handing over money we even had a little dhamma discussion. When Shanthi Jayasekera left with his Russian colleagues I asked Thero about his inner feelings because I had felt some worries. He does not worry about his own health but he worries about the attitude of people to his illness. He gets so many telephone calls from different countries, mainly from Sri Lanka and Australia. Of this, 99% of the calls make him worry because these people do not know the situation here and they have not got the right information. Do you remember that on behalf of all Buddhists in the world you asked us to help and take care of Ven. Soma Thero? Now on behalf of all the Buddhists of four directions I ask you to help Ven. Soma Thero informing others not to worry Thero with unnecessary telephone calls.
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Inside story of Soma Thero's death

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