Lakeside Father Mourns Son Killed In Sri Lanka Bombing By Sharing His Story
Speaker 1: 00:00 11 year old Kiran, chef Fritz destroy. Some had just been to spring break in lakeside where's father lives? A week later he became one of the victims of the bombings in Sri Lanka. More than 350 people were killed when suicide bombers struck three churches and three hotels Easter morning and one of the world's deadliest terrorist attacks in recent years. Joining me to discuss his son Kieren is Alexander Arrow. Thank you for joining us, Alexander. Speaker 2: 00:27 Thanks for having me on and telling your own story. Speaker 1: 00:30 First, let me start by saying I am so sorry for your loss. Speaker 2: 00:34 I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Speaker 1: 00:36 During what is an extremely difficult time you've chosen to do interviews like this one. Why is that? Speaker 2: 00:43 I feel like this is the time when people are paying attention to Karen's story and you know, next week this will be swept by the next news, the next tragedy in the world. And Karen was going to be a famous neuroscientist now that he's, he's uh, had that career has, has been cut short. It feels like the right thing to do to tell his story to everyone. Just so that the world knows what, who he was and what he was going to contribute. And I, um, I feel like I can't stop talking about him. He was such an amazing person and he was going to contribute so much to this world. And I, um, I want everyone to know that. Speaker 1: 01:25 And where was cure and when he passed away, Speaker 2: 01:28 he was in the restaurant of the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka. One of the three hotels that the suicide bombers targeted ends on Sunday morning. Speaker 1: 01:39 And you just been texting with him, is that right? Speaker 2: 01:42 Ah, right. So you know, my Saturday night, his Sunday morning, 8:00 PM my time, 8:00 AM his home because he's exactly on the other side of the world. I just called him and he couldn't pick up and he texted me back, can't talk now. He was in the elevator at that time coming down to uh, to have breakfast with and he was with his, his momma has maternal grandma. Speaker 1: 02:03 And how did you first find out that your son was one of the victims and the bombings? Speaker 2: 02:07 Well, I, I found out by a phone call, uh, just, you know, shortly after that text message, while he was in the elevator, I was at home and I had just been to dinner for my girlfriend's daughter. We'd put her to bed and we were just having a normal evening and the phone rang. We didn't, I didn't pick it up cause you know, Saturday night you don't normally pick up the phone when you're making dinner and do another thing. So shortly after that, um, my, my neighbor came and knocked on the door because that's what I heard, that there had been a bomb explosion in Sri Lanka and the Karen had been hurt and I needed to call them right away. So, um, that's how I first found out. Speaker 1: 02:43 I can't imagine what was going through your mind at the time. Speaker 2: 02:46 Hi. Yeah, this is as big a shock as well as anyone can ever have. And I remember the, you know, the conversations on the phone right after that and about the immediate ticket to Sri Lanka and the shouting for two details and what exactly had happened to him. And, and then it was on the phone with the doctors. And as the details started to become clear, it was like time was kind of slowing down. You know, that sensation you have when something so drastic is happening to you that it just seems like every moment is stretching out. But you know, like you said, the reason I'm talking about him is because of the, the world should know about who he was going to be and what he had accomplished at the age of 11 and a half, which is to be a wonderful person, already has friends and everyone who met him, he was a top of his class and both of his schools and he's very determined he was going to help people and he was going to have a career helping people contributing to, uh, to medicine. Speaker 1: 03:43 And, and what was he doing in Sri Lanka? Speaker 2: 03:45 Well, uh, you know, his mother wanted to give him a lot of international exposure. She's very worldly, well traveled person and she had bestowed that upon him and she, she had taken him to five continents by the time he was 11. You know, most kids learn about the great museums of the world from here, their parents or other adults. But I was learning about that from him. Uh, you know, he would go on all these trips and, and educate me and he's, he's heritage is half the Sri Lankan. His, his mother's family is all from Chicago. She, she's an American, but her parents are from Sri Lanka. And so I thought it was a reasonable thing when she suggested he should, he should be exposed and doing a semester abroad would be a good thing. Usually you don't do a semester abroad until you're in college, but you know, in fifth grade, at age 10, he was doing a semester abroad and he was thriving there. He was doing wonderfully. If that school, she was top of his class in there, he was, he was studying mandarin and Sinhala. Uh, so I was really happy with that. She was, he was doing so well and he wanted to do another semester, so it was going really well. I mean, it's, it was, it seemed like it was a good idea. Speaker 1: 04:50 Right. And your son had just visited you at your home in lakeside? Uh, what did the two of you do during those two weeks? Speaker 2: 04:57 We had wonderful two weeks. It was his spring break and we went on our, all of our outdoor activities. We did hiking. We didn't, uh, kayaking on Lake San [inaudible], which she loved. We did a lot of board games or were very into board games and, um, you know, he, he would, uh, he was so disciplined that he would interrupt the fun times and the board games to say, I've got to study my Mandarin. Yeah. He enlisted the help of my, um, brother, his uncle and I did help him with flashcards for his Mandarin. And I know what kid says, we have to stop playing this one game because I need to study my Mandarin. Speaker 1: 05:33 And I mean, you know, as you, you mentioned, you know, he had plans to work on curing diseases like Alzheimer's. Uh, how did he decide that that's what he wanted to do? Speaker 2: 05:42 He was motivated by helping people. That was what kind of guided him. It was amazing that he was, he was that insightful and altruistic and at his age, but you know, he, he would help other kids in little ways. He was always stopping and explaining things to other kids. Um, when we learned a new game, I would usually read the instruction book and describe the, the rules to him. And then before I knew it, he was reciting those rules to the another kid. So he was guided by a sense of wanting to help others. And you know, earlier in his childhood he wanted to be a paleontologist, um, journalists who was one of his ambitions early on. But, uh, in the last year and a half, two years, he decided that the way he could make the biggest difference in the world. This was neuroscience. And you know, he's absolutely right. I mean, you know, in all of medicine, neuroscience is the area where we have the most work to do. We have the most completely mysterious pathology in the brain versus any other part of the body. So it really is the, for someone who's can do anything and has all these talents, it is the best career in my opinion, to have. And I told him that and I, and I hope that he was going to stick with it and I'm sure I'm sure that he would have. Speaker 1: 06:46 Well, I, you know, I am so sorry for your loss, but I know that, uh, he certainly lives on through the inspiring stories that you share of him with, uh, everyone. Uh, do you have any plans to travel to Sri Lanka? Speaker 2: 07:00 Um, I'll eventually want to go there just to see them. It's a place where it happened and sort a sense of closure, but no, right now his, uh, his mom is coming back with him and, and uh, we'll probably have services next week in Washington DC. Speaker 1: 07:15 I've been speaking to Alexander Arrow, the father of 11 year old Kiran shoe, Fritz desire sir, one of the victims of the bombings in Sri Lanka. Alexandra, thank you for sharing your story. Speaker 2: 07:26 Thank you for helping us remember Karen. Speaker 3: 07:39 Yeah.
