Yvonne Foong: Fighting NF

Pei Lee and Fiona visited me at home on the fifth day of Chinese New Year. Fiona was the only one with a job and paid for lunch.

As mentioned in an earlier post, Fiona and I tried contacting Center for Independent Living in Kuala Lumpur, to provide Pei Lee with vocational training. I read about their work in the Reader’s Digest and thought they might benefit Pei Lee.

Sadly, they were too busy to even entertain us. Elsewhere refused to take up the Deaf.

I took candid shots of Pei Lee while having tea. Sorting through them, I see a lot of bitterness in her, etched by discrimination and fear for a world that sidelined this helpless woman. The last employer insulted Pei Lee so bad, she quit the job although she needed the salary so much.

When we first met, I thought encouraging Pei Lee to live like me would help. I thought she just needs to be industrious, motivated, and get a good push. But learning is really a talent or an ability provided by supportive upbringing. Pei Lee has long passed that stage, We need to help her differently.

I really do not like showing her to people like this to give her the needed assistance but it seems we have no choice. She’s so beaten up after trying and getting rejected. I can talk about quality of healthcare, but Pei Lee finds it hard to survive, let alone choosing good doctors.

I’ve just written to NTV7’s Finding Angels telling them about Pei Lee. Let’s see if they would help. If not, then I’ll write to other shows.

Do you think Pei Lee looks very real wearing my tee in these photographs? This is the kind of image I want Heaty4Hope to project. Genuine people, simple lives. Plain and ordinary.

Invited Pei Lee to my house this afternoon. Returned her ATM card and bankbook. Told her the pin number as well, so she may withdraw money to pay for her healthcare whenever necessary.

Pei Lee said she is looking for some simple work to do at home for money. Let me know if you have anything in mind. I’ll put you in touch with her. Remember Pei Lee’s highest education is standard six, she doesn’t speak English and she knows little Bahasa Melayu. She has NF2 and she is deaf, so don’t give her heavy work.

Pei Lee also hopes to sell her desktop PC. I’ve never seen it before, but according to my friend who saw it once, it might be a low specs computer. So let me know if you are interested.

Remember Pei Lee said she was seeing a “tabib cina”, chinese doctor? Found out today her tabib cina did not prescribe her ubat cina, “chinese medicine”. The tabib cina guna ubat orang putih. Namely, Terraquant. My bad for assuming. Terraquant is some new invention to relieve pain. It also claims to promote cell activity.

In the afternoon, I took Pei Lee to Segi College. Introduced her to Shaun, Roshan, and Reuben.
Reubs communicated with Pei Lee in written Chinese.

Now Yvonne needs to set an MRI and visual field test appointment. Jangan lupa!

Here goes something to consider. Pei Lee’s Maybank a/c currently has RM6,394.00. When we took Pei Lee to Sunway medical, she had about RM3,000. I guess people kept donating.

Pei Lee had been going to a Chinese Herbalist for two months who prescribed her some medicine daily. She claimed to have been healed because her pain ceased. (My doctors said pain is not associated with nerve damages so maybe it was something else). I haven’t seen her lately, so I don’t know how her walking looks like now.

Since Pei Lee does not need surgery soon, I wonder what am I going to do with the money meant for her.

1. Should I hand it to her? Treat it as a gift. Tell her it is for her medical treatment, but it is up to her how she wants to manage it.

2. Keep it in the bank, so when Pei Lee does need anything, we would have money ready for her. Something is not right with this choice, which I can’t pinpoint. Is it a legal issue? I feel odd having control over the money. There are others who may need help, which often makes me think I could be helping them.

3. Take the money and donate it to a good cause. Ah, I think this would go against the law as the account belongs to Pei Lee and besides, people donated to her, not anyone else.

4. Manage Pei Lee’s healthcare. ie. Pay for her periodic MRI scans. This is least viable as my ability and resources are lesser now. Mom started working again which means I can’t travel much. I also want Pei lee to be independent. When I pay for the MRIs, I would have to advise her which hospital to go to, and follow up with her doctor at that hospital, which is taxing.

Oh, yes, notably, the difference between private and government hospitals in Malaysia is the amount of effort a patient needs to put into managing their own health-care.

5. Squander the money!