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In conjunction with World Stroke Day today, three survivors share how consistent rehabilitation has enabled them to regain function again.
He had married the love of his life four years earlier, was a proud papa of a daughter and an owner of a successful accelerated learning centre.
As far as Chin was aware, he had no health issues although he was a little overweight and seldom exercised.
He never smoked and drank occasionally socially.
Like most people, the Ipoh, Perak-based lad had bouts of stress, but always rode it out.
Until one fateful morning on Dec 29, 2014.
He recalls: “I woke up at 6am like I usually do and didn’t feel well.
“I picked up my phone and dropped it, like I couldn’t control my hand.
“I walked to the toilet and my body felt weak, so I went back to sleep.
“After 30 minutes, I woke up again and still didn’t feel good, so I woke my wife up.
“She said I was probably tired and asked me togo back to sleep, bu ti was slurring as I spoke and she immediately knew I was having a stroke.
“I couldn’t believe it because a month prior, I had donated blood at the hospital and my blood pressure was normal.” Chin was rushed to a private hospital. “Strangely, I was somehow able to walk while holding on to something, but after they did an MRI a few hours later, which confirmed I had a stroke, I couldn’t move my entire right side any more,” he says.
Chin was hospitalised for a week and was confident he’d be cheerily walking out of hospital before long.
Alas, he could barely stand and had to relearn how to sit.
He says: “I’ve always had a positive mindset, but the moment I sat on the wheelchair, I realised how bad my stroke was.
“Everyone was sad, including me, and the thought of ‘why me’ entered my mind.
“The worst part: I couldn’t hug my daughter, who was then three years old,” says Chin.
The attending doctor had recommended physiotherapy, while a friend mentioned the National Stroke Association of Malaysia (Nasam), so the day after being discharged, Chin started rehabilitation.
His goal: to be able to walk and drive again.
Support and motivation
Under the dedicated care of therapist Kathiravan Tangaraju, Chin went for daily sessions and was able to stand and walk a few steps within two weeks.
He was taught how to get up from bed using his left side, and how to get dressed.
What really motivated him was peer support from older stroke patients.
Laughing, Chin says: “These aunties and uncles would come and tell me I would definitely walk again.
“They were all very kind with their encouraging words.”
In February 2015, Chin’s wife found out she was pregnant again.
The couple were delighted, and Chin was further determined to recover so that he could drive her to hospital when the baby was due.
“I’m glad I was able to it,” he says. Chin also took private yoga classes for a year.
By April 2015, he had not only returned to work, but was also back behind the wheels.
He has had other successful personal accomplishments post-stroke, including completing a 6km charity run in 2016, where he walked the entire distance.
The stroke had also affected his ability to write.
It took more than a year before he could hold a pen again.
Chin says: “The writing was the last function to return to normalcy.
“I was lucky my speech returned faster and that was because my wife would ask me to read storybooks to our daughter.
“I sounded exactly like a Chinese man reading English for the first time, and everyone would burst out laughing, including my daughter.
“In hindsight, I’m glad my daughter didn’t give us much trouble and understood what I was going through.”
Grateful for every day
In August 2019, he was hospitalised for dizziness, but thankfully, it was nothing serious.
“The doctor said I was overweight and my blood glucose was also on the high side.
“He asked if I wanted to be on medication and I said no.
“Instead, I took up the challenge to walk 10,000 steps once a week, and by the time, I saw him again in three months, I had lost weight from 114kg to 91kg and my blood glucose had normalised.
“He was surprised, but happy. “Eventually, I began walking 10,000 steps three times a week until the movement control order, then I bought a stationary bike and rode it to keep fit,” he shares.
Diet-wise, Chin says the family always ate healthy because there is family history of non-communicable diseases.
He reveals: “Frankly speaking, my mum’s food has no taste because everything is less in salt, sugar, oil, etc.
“Even the vegetables are boiled or steamed – there is no sauce or flavouring!
“So once in a while, I will have nasi lemak or fast food – I can’t resist, I am Malaysian!”
These days, Chin, now 50, no longer takes his health for granted, goes to bed by 10pm and is grateful for every small blessing.
“The family hugs every day. “When my son was born, I couldn’t bathe him, but I was able to hold him.
“When my daughter was born, I was the one who bathed her daily while my wife concentrated on breastfeeding.
“The kids were breastfed until they were three – saved us a lot of money!” he says with a chuckle.
The stroke has left Chin, a law-of-attraction facilitator, more emotional as his tears flow freely nowadays.
“I was not like that before,” he says. “I remember my grandma also suffered a stroke and she would always cry.
“When I asked why, she said she couldn’t control her emotions – the same thing is happening to me.”
Last year, Chin was honoured with an invitation to deliver a keynote address at a business platform in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, showcasing his remarkable journey of triumph over adversity.
It was his first trip out of Malaysia since he had the stroke, and yes, the tears trickled down his cheeks as he narrated his story to applause.
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