That\u2019s how Evangeline Agtarap Claassens, wife for 15 years of 60-year-old Dr. Francois Claassens, feels these days.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Saipan Tribune yesterday, Mrs. Claassens also said that, according to two doctors in Guam, her husband is slowly showing signs of progress.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will try to take the life support off today to see if he is able to go without it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Claassens said she feels angry because their two minor children are suffering, having witnessed the attack. She is also confused why her husband has to suffer, which in turn affects their children\u2019s wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not necessary. I don\u2019t know. I can\u2019t sleep. I just want to be awake for my kids all the time, watching them even in their sleep,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Claassens said their son is in denial and would ask her permission if he is allowed to get mad at Pono, the nickname of suspect William Mathewson.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has no clue. Oftentimes he sits in the corner, breaks down and wants his Dad. But he is a brave boy. Hopefully I will not have to deal with trust issues as a result of what he saw,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Claassens said she can\u2019t rationalize why Mathewson, who is such a good friend of her husband, would do such a horrific act.<\/p>\n
Mathewson, a 36-year-old farmer\/fisherman, allegedly stabbed Dr. Claassens in the neck with a fishing spear and whacked his head with a chain and a big black pot.<\/p>\n
The victim\u2019s son reportedly saw the attack as he was about to serve coffee to his father and Mathewson.<\/p>\n
The attack happened in the back of the doctor\u2019s house in Teneto Village on Rota on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
When police arrested Mathewson at the scene, he reportedly smelled of alcohol. He reportedly told a police officer that he wants to watch the doctor die and that\u2019s what Dr. Claassens gets for destroying his family.<\/p>\n
Dr. Claassens is the only physician assigned at the Rota Health Center.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Claassens told Saipan Tribune that when the incident happened, she had just arrived in Guam from a trip to Honolulu. She said she heard about the incident on Saturday at the Guam airport while she was on her way to Rota to see her family.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Claassens said the Rota Commonwealth Health Center called to inform her not to fly home but to just wait at the U.S. Naval Hospital instead for her husband because they\u2019re bringing him over via a Navy helicopter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got confused and worried,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n
She said the doctors and nurses both at Naval Hospital and Guam Memorial Hospital were great and that her husband is being attended to by the best medical team.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Claassens said words cannot express how grateful she is for the support she has received from the community and everybody that supports their family.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband could not have made it to survive without the community and I will be forever indebted to everybody,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. CEO Esther Mu\u00f1a confirmed with Saipan Tribune late afternoon yesterday that Dr. Claassens remains in critical condition but his health is improving.<\/p>\n
Mu\u00f1a said she had spoken with Dr. Claassens\u2019 wife and confirmed that he is breathing on his own but still needs the ventilator.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe injuries he sustained were a near miss to his artery. However CHCC remains in support of Dr. Claassen\u2019s recovery and we are hopeful that he is revived soon,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
CHCC employees and its departments and health centers continue to hope and pray for Dr. Claassens\u2019 quick recovery, she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are hopeful for Dr. Claassen\u2019s quick recovery and we will continue to pray for him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mu\u00f1a noted that in providing help to the Rota Health Center, rotation will begin this week in hopes to alleviate RHC\u2019s lack of physicians. (With Jayson Camacho)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" That\u2019s how Evangeline Agtarap Claassens, wife for 15 years of 60-year-old Dr. Francois Claassens, feels…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[331,140,3534,38],"class_list":["post-198769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-attack","tag-commonwealth-healthcare-corp","tag-guam-memorial-hospital","tag-saipan-tribune"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}