HER SMS to her father read: 'I'll get better, don't worry about me.'

But those comforting words did not materialise.

The sender, Dr Tan Bee Hooi, a 37-year-old Malaysian, was pronounced dead on Wednesday in Paris after complications from her brain operations.

She had gone to France earlier this month for surgery due to arteriovenous malfunction (AVM) in her brain.

AVM is a congenital disorder caused by abnormal development of blood vessels.

She was at the Foundation Rothschild Hospital to consult Professor Jacques Moret, a world renowned interventional neuroradiologist, reported The Star.

She had operations on 12 Mar and 14 Mar. Both went smoothly.

'She was supposed to return home on 16 Mar. Her bags were already packed the day before,' her father Datuk Tan Gin Soon told Malaysian daily China Press.

'But on that night, she had a severe headache, and a Malaysian doctor who was with her sent her to hospital immediately.'

There, she sent that comforting SMS to him. Datuk Tan thought that her daughter would be fine after resting, but he was wrong.

On 17 Mar, her condition worsened and she fell into a coma.

Said Datuk Tan: 'The doctors there did a brain scan and discovered that she had severe bleeding in her brain.'

Datuk Tan flew to Paris to be by her side.

On Wednesday, when doctors told him that his daughter was brain dead, he decided to donate her organs.

Datuk Tan said that his daughter, a medical graduate from the University of Sydney, had always wanted to do so.

IN DEATH SHE GIVES LIFE

So when she died, her corneas, heart, kidneys and liver were harvested for patients waiting for transplants in France and other European countries.

'As a staunch Buddhist, she also believed it was more blessed to give than to receive. I feel happy that even in her death, she could give others a new lease of life,' Datuk Tan told The Star.

Dr Tan's body was flown back to her Penang home yesterday.

Datuk Tan could not hold back his tears after reaching Penang.

He sobbed inconsolably as his two younger daughters and son performed Buddhist rites after claiming her body from the airport.

Dr Tan, an anaesthetist with Penang Hospital had wanted to open the first pain management clinic if her operation was successful, said her mother, Madam Khor Mooi Looi, 61, a retired teacher,

She was a committed and caring doctor, said her father.

He added: 'Despite her busy schedule, she also found time to help others through social work and volunteered her services at the Mahindrama Temple at Kampar Road.'

Malaysia's ambassador to France Datuk SThanarajasingam described Dr Tan as a 'truly remarkable woman'.

He said: 'Even in death, she has given a lifeline to others.'

Dr Tan, a single mother, left behind two sons, Tan Xin Yeng, five, and Tan Xing San, seven.

Bernama reported that one of her shocked colleagues said Dr Tan used to encourage others to be organ donors.

'She liked to talk a lot about donating organs.

'I am proud that she did what she always preached, by donating her organs.'