Such sad news.

I worked with Gary for a couple of years. An unassuming man, decent, and a fine teacher.

I met him again a couple of months ago...he seemed fine.

You'll be missed, Gary

I mentioned the death of Barry Moss to Gary and he said he did not know him. Gary wasn't a member of either forum and only heard of items in them through me.
There was another slightly strange thing that happened after the doctor and attendants from Sunrise Hospital refused to transport Gary. Frank told me that he wouldn't accept their decision and demanded proof that it was indeed Government policy. As a result, they rang the hospital and spoke at length to someone in authority. Frank doesn't understand Khmer and said the only words used that he recognised were "barang"and "covid", but they were repeated constantly. They then confirmed they wouldn't be taking Gary and left the apartment, after demanding money for visiting.
Not enough evidence to make any serious suppositions, but I wonder if this contentious "policy", if true, applies to everyone or only foreigners.
Regarding the finding that the cause of death was an ulcer, there is no concrete evidence to support the claim. Authorities removed Gary's body near midnight on Thursday night and the report of his death and the cause was published the next day. It would have required an autopsy to confirm that an ulcer killed him, but apparently the body was taken straight to the pagoda-they made his landlady pay the cost.
The body was first found by Frank and our American music teacher, who had worked as a hospital orderly in his youth. They described to me in detail the state of the corpse. It is rather gruesome, so I won't go into details here. They did not mention any sign that he had vomited blood, which almost certainly would have been the case if it was caused by an ulcer.
Since the 1990s, ulcers are no longer the serious problem that they were previously. An Australian researcher discovered that they are in fact caused by a bacterial infection, whereas before it was believed that such an infection could not occur because of stomach acids. He also discovered they could be eliminated quickly by massive doses of 2 or 3 powerful antibiotics and subsequently won a Nobel Prize. At the time, I had been suffering from severe duodenal ulcers for almost 20 years, but I took the cure and the ulcers were eliminated. I had a repeat of ulcer symptoms in my second year here in 2005, but after taking the antibiotics, the symptoms disappeared and have not recurred.
We sometimes discuss medical medical issues in the staffroom. Ulcers were the topic only about 2 months go and I described my personal experiences. Gary was a slightly guarded person, but was quite candid about past and present medical issues. He was present that time and did not mention any prior problems with ulcers. Draw your own conclusions.

Hi, just wanted to try to clear things up, Gary was my ex-husband (we divorced in 2000). Although we were divorced and I am now remarried, we were still friendly and on good terms.

I'm very shocked and saddened to hear what happened to Gary. We had 2 sons and a daughter - my eldest son and daughter had previously visited him at Christmas (my other son's passport got lost, so he missed out, unfortunately). I believe, from what they tell me, that Gary was suffering from a leg ulcer, not a stomach ulcer. In fact, 2 years ago, my daughter who had just got back from visiting him, asked me (in tears) to email him to see if I could persuade him to go to a doctor. Gary told me it was nothing to worry about.

My son, Oliver Moss, is dealing with paperwork etc. I can pass on any messages. Thanks to everyone for their concern and help.

I never met the Man. R.I.P. Gary !

If that ever happens to anyone else in the Expat Community again i suggest NOT to ask the Calmette Hospital for help. Over the past 20 odd years it gained quite a reputation. I went there once for treatment of a skin cancer and was sent to an area where the floor was blood stained. I went to a room where some medical staff had coffee and they all said they don't have someone to look after skin cancer/ dermatologist. They gave me a tel. No. of a french lady doctor that wasn't working in the hospital and she,too said she's not a dermatologist and sent me to the CLINIC de la Gare which doesn't exist. There is only a Pharmacy de la Gare. Du du communication problems with the Tuktuk Driver i ended up by pure luck at a small khmer clinic off street 51(NAGA CLINIC) and started yelling at the Tuktuk Driver ........... until i read the sign on the clinic's window that said DERMATOLOGY ! I asked the Tuktuk to wait and asked for an appointment. I was received by the now most famous Dermatologist in Cambodia Dr. , now even Professor Dr. Mey Sitach a REAL Specialist. It took him a blink of an eye to see what i had and he suggested immediate operation. I know myself and decided to do the operation right there and now since otherwise i would be too scared and never come back. BUT: Cancer is too serious of an issue so i went through it. A young receptionist/nurse was told to hold a iron plate with wires under my leg , he injected something into my skin and 30 min later all was done. He cut the beast out and i got the lab report a week later. 100 USD for all, please. With that kind of service who needs a health insurance ?

The explanation of a leg ulcer makes a lot more sense. Gary sometimes had difficulty walking, particularly on the stairs at work. He told us it was a genetic condition that he had inherited and knew how to treat. It probably explains why he couldn't walk or get out of bed in his final days. Thanks for the clarification.

Hi all, this is Gary's eldest son, Dan.
I found this page after googling it, I realise this is a year or two after the fact, just hope this is an appropriate place to share my feelings about this. It goes without saying that those who conjectured about the circumstances of my Dad's death are extremely pathetic and should get a better hobby.
His kids (I.e me, my brother Olly and sister Chloe ) have been made out to be uncaring people who never gave a sod about the bloke who both bought us into the world, and had a massive impact on the kind of people we are. This is totally untrue. Unfortunately the wider Moss family have been completely crap, wrapped up in their own asinine feuds. This is why there hasn't been a proper funeral for our dad Gary. I have reached out to all of them. If any of the three of us could have done, we would have, but what would the point of been. We're all skint. I will message each of his brothers individually. No one has reached out. Olly has his ashes.

I think our dad was a decent, sensitive person who experienced serious trauma as a member of the metropolitan police force, which unfortunately at the time had basically no provisions for that kind of thing, and he became hopelessly dependant on alcohol. I remember him screaming in the night about it very often, and his alcoholism became absolutely awful and seriously affected everyone in the family. This is what he was 'quiet' about. His death was caused by a sore left by a life long psoriasis condition, but if he was sober he'd have sorted it. I went to visit him in cambodia from london in 2019/2020 - Frank, that's when I met you and we had xmas dinner and stuff, I think he loved you really, although he could be a grumpy bastard I thought you were sound too and I was glad he had a good mate. I got on well then with my dad, everything was forgiven and he showed me all the xmas cards from the kids he taught, I could tell he was well proud of it and I was so proud of him, I was just worried about his fucking leg, but he didn't want to talk about it.
I wish he was with me now to talk about stuff, god he was my best mate in so many ways. I made this playlist as soon as I found out he'd died Just bear in mind I remember him telling me specifically his favourite song ever was 'The Power Of Love' by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. That's how he was.

danmoss91 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 18, 2022 1:00 pm Hi all, this is Gary's eldest son, Dan.
I found this page after googling it, I realise this is a year or two after the fact, just hope this is an appropriate place to share my feelings about this.It goes without saying that those who conjectured about the circumstances of my Dad's death are extremely pathetic and should get a better hobby.
His kids (I.e me, my brother Olly and sister Chloe ) have been made out to be uncaring people who never gave a sod about the bloke who both bought us into the world, and had a massive impact on the kind of people we are. This is totally untrue

Sincere condolences Dan and thanks for sharing your feelings.
We might appear to be (ok, we are) a jaded bunch on this forum, but I think that whenever an expat dies in Cambodia we all think that yeah, that could've been me, or yeah, he's just like that guy I used to work with, or even just damn it, another one bites the dust. I think your dad probably would have understood that.
So don't take any comments on here personally. People have big mouths online sometimes, but no evil intended.
Sorry for your loss. Best wishes to you, your brother and your sister.