STROKE is the third largest cause of death in Malaysia and has a huge impact on its victims, changing one’s entire world as seen in the life of Lam Chik Choon.
A professional weightlifter with three bronze medals from three SEA Games, and an international certified Class One referee in the sport, Lam had never guessed a stroke would befall him.
Despite having hypertension coupled with high cholesterol, the former middleweight category lifter continued to train daily and help out at his family’s optical shop after retirement - all the while confident that he was in good shape.
Rehab session: Teng (third from left) together with volunters and carers helping out stroke survivors doing exercises. However, one fateful day in 2009, while in the midst of his daily training, Lam felt dizzy and his limbs became numb.
Lam, who was 68 years old then, dismissed the strange sensation and continued lifting weights with his left hand.
“A day later, while I was helping out at the shop, I discovered that I could not pick up a small screw with my left hand.
“The next thing I knew, I was lying on a hospital bed. I had suffered a stroke,” Lam related, adding that the incident had greatly impacted his life.
Being discharged from the hospital after five days, the former strong athlete lay slumped in a wheelchair; his left hand curled up stiff due to the over exertion.
Trying to get back on track: Ooi (second left) following other stroke survivors in physiotherapy exercises at the centre. “I was depressed and just wanted to be left alone.
“I did not want to leave my house and even distanced myself from my friends,” he said.
Stroke, which happens when blood flow to a part of the brain stops, is not limited to age, as experienced by nine-year-old Ooi Chee Chuen.
A smart and active child, Chee Chuen had complained of a severe headache and experienced vomiting and seizures in July this year.
His mother panicked and immediately sent him to the hospital where he spent the next 17 days in a coma and breathing from an oxygen tube.
“After one whole month in the hospital, the doctors still could not tell what had caused the stroke although they managed to remove the blood clot,” said the mother, who declined to be named.
Chee Chuen’s mother, an accountant, said she had been very upset initially.
“The stroke had taken away my son’s future and left him with learning and coordination difficulties.
“I even thought of quitting my job in order to care for him as my husband works in Kuala Lumpur.
“But I was fortunate enough to have an understanding boss, who allowed me to bring my son to the office and also to have flexible working hours,” she said, adding that Chee Chuen needed to be cared for all the time to make sure he did not hurt himself.
“It requires a lot of patience,” she added.
National Stroke Association of Malaysia (NASAM) Perak branch senior rehabilitation officer Irene Teng said it was important for the public to recognise the different signs of stroke and to take steps to send a person to a hospital’s emergency unit fast.
“Stroke patients sometimes brush off the attacks and this causes more damage to their brain cells.
“It is, therefore, vital to act quick,” she said, adding that family members were often impacted financially, emotionally and psychologically as they seek to adjust and cope with the situation.
Family members, she said, must understand that despite the changes and patience required to care for a patient, there was still life after this.
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