One In A Million

My mum is a very important person in my life. She has been living with congenital condition since the age of three. When she was married, she was advised by the doctors not to start a family due to risk of excessive bleeding. She knew about the risk but still went ahead to have three kids with my dad.

Back then, my mum was living in a kampung (village in Singapore back in 1960s till early 1990s) with my dad. She was staying together with the rest of my dad's family including his parents and siblings and faced a lot of challenges. First, there was the period where she has to get adjusted to stay in a village. Next, she had to learn to cook, clean the house and be a parent to three young kids. Then, there is the need to look after and serve her in laws, which is my dad's parents. She has to adapt and overcome all these challenges in a short space of time and do this day in day out. She was pretty short tempered and had quite a pessimistic outlook towards life.

Years later, she had to go through a major surgery due to her bleeding relating to her congenital condition. The surgery was done a top specialist surgeon in SGH with guest doctors from London joining to provide their expertise. It was a touch and go situation and her health is at stake.

Thankfully, the surgery was a success and my mum can continue to live her life. At the same time, she made a few keys life decisions. First, she decided to switch from full time housewife to working part time. She worked in a fast food industry and mixed around with people from all walks of life. Gradually, she changed her life perspective and became more positive. Also, both her interpersonal and social skills improved tremendously with her picking up English at the same time.

Nowadays, she goes to the swimming pool at least three times a week, learns to use laptop and phone applications, creates Facebook and Yahoo email accounts to interact with people and uses WhatsApp and Skype. She has learnt how to self manage her congenital condition for the past twenty years 

Recently, she has been scheduled to do a knee replacement surgery for a short hospital stay. The knee replacement surgery went well and things were going to plan.

Then, the bleeding relating to her congenital condition came back. She had to stay in the hospital for the next three months. It was a roller coaster ride as the bleeding comes and go. My mum was taking a lot of physical and mental challenges. She lost over thirty packs of blood and needed blood transfusion very often.

Despite all these setbacks, she displayed strong resilience and positiveness. She kept fighting and show "never give up" mentality.

The head surgeon initially suggested that doing a major surgery is the strongly recommended option for the long term recovery and wellness of my mum's health.This is a high risk surgery but my mum was willing to go for it. She was very determined to overcome whatever that comes her way and her courage was immense.

After that, the head of surgeon had a medical conference with other renounced specialists and the consensus was to do a minor surgery instead. Thereafter, the minor procedure went well and my mum is recovering well. The head surgeon described my mum as one in a million due to the fact that her congenital condition is very rare in this world.

I picked up and learnt a lot from my mum. First, she's unique and one in a million. To me, she's infinity and no one can replace her. I feel really blessed for what my mum has done for me and the family. Her will to having me as her child and determination to bring her kids up to adults together with my dad is something that I find so amazing. Also, she changes her personality and character totally. Now, she is a tough character (tough mindset) with cheerful outlook towards life.

One in a million, someone who is irreplaceable in my life.