Balloons and flowers were always in David Tai’s hospital room. For his 54th birthday on March 30, his wife, Yik Chin Pang, and their daughter bought him more flowers and a champagne ganache cake, which they decorated with tall silver and gold candles.
“We all went into his room singing happy birthday to him,” said Pang, who is a 43-year-old University senior majoring in computer science. “He tried to blow out the candles, but he couldn’t. But he still tried. He tried.”
Less than a month after the celebration, Tai died. He never recovered after a tree fell and crashed into his truck in January during a stormy morning in Florence, Ore. Tai had since been in hospitals and care facilities in Eugene, Portland and Vancouver, Wash. He was paralyzed from the chest down and could not talk or eat.

Tai was the sole provider for the family, and since the accident, Pang has struggled to pay the bills. She set up a donation fund called the David Tai Family Donation Account to help cover expenses. So far, the fund has raised almost $3,000.
Last week, Tai developed some movement in his arms and was able to speak softly. Although doctors told her the worst, Pang did not expect her husband to die.
“I always thought he could get better,” Pang said. Her eyes were still red from crying.
At midnight on April 11, Pang got a call from doctors saying that her husband’s stomach started bleeding. He was rushed from a rehabilitation center in Vancouver, Wash., to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, also in Vancouver. @@http://www.swmedicalcenter.org/@@
Pang called the center to let her husband know she was on the way. She caught the first train to Portland at 9 a.m. and arrived more than three hours later while her husband was in surgery. By 3 p.m., she was taken to a room where doctors told her Tai had died. She never saw her husband alive.
She wanted to cry, she said, but was in shock. The doctors took her to a room to spend 30 minutes alone with her husband. Soft piano music played in the background, she said. For the first time in four months, she was able to lie beside her husband.
“I could hug him, but there was no heart beating. His body was warm still. It was so hard,” Pang said. She buried her head in her arms and started crying. “I kissed his face, but it was so cold. His body was warm, but his face was so cold.”
Pang told her 15-year-old daughter, Michelle Chan, what happened the next morning.
“It was really strange because he was actually doing really well,” Chan said. “On the (donation) website, people were commenting on what great progress he was making. I was going to go see him next weekend — I was really excited,” Chan said. Her words trailed off as she began to cry. “I never got to see him.”
With her husband’s death, Pang said she won’t graduate until next year. She is still taking two classes this term and working part-time at the EMU computer labs. She said she’s looking for another job so she can care for her daughter and finish her degree.
“Even though my husband left, I still carry his wish — and he wished that Michelle can go to college and wished me success in my career,” Pang said. “I want to do my best. I don’t know how I’m going to reach this goal, but I want to be successful because I want my husband to be proud of me.”
A memorial will be held for Tai this Saturday, April 21, in Florence. Contributions to the David Tai Family Donation Account can be made at any U.S. Bank.