She is also very protective of her baby brother, Aaron. He is actually not a baby any more; I will share more about him another time. I remember at one time, Aaron was bullied by a group of bigger boys in school. She came to his aid and went to scold the group of boys who came to respect her.
When she was 16 or 17, she came back one day from school and asks me if I can drive her to the hospital. She told me that she has signed up to donate stem cells, a program organized by her school. Apparently, there was a match and the hospital called her to go and do a test. We went to the National University Hospital in the morning. She was bubbly and we joked along the way. The doctor there did an interview and briefing and told her that if she decide to consent to be a donor, there will not be a chance for her to meet or know who is the recipient and also she will not know whether the recipient's treatment is successful or not. This is to prevent her from having an emotional attachment to this whole medical case. She agreed. They did a test to reconfirm that her stem cell matched the patient.
On the second visit, they put her on the bed and then inserted a needle into her spinal cord. She has to lie in bed for sometime. All the while, she was joyful and bubbly. I was by her side. They took a few bags of liquid that looked like blood. I guessed they will extract the stem cells from these bags. On the next visit, she was called into the doctor room. They told her that because the patient is a big person, he needs more then the normal amount of stem cells and that her body is not producing enough stem cells. They have to inject some medicine into her body to hasten the production of stem cells before they harvest any more from her body. .They gave her a dozen syringes and needles. She has a choice of coming to the hospital everyday to have the injection done by the hospital nurse or she can do it herself at home by injecting it into her stomach.
This is where it becomes scary. When Grace was young, she could be a very problematic child especially when it came to taking medicine and seeing the doctor. She hated the smell of medicine. Whenever she was ill, she would not want to take any medicine prescription by the doctor. We will force her to take and she will spit it out instantly and she will start to cry. She hate needles too. She would scream at the top of her voice when the doctor injected her. I had a tough time trying to handle her at that time. She was absolutely paranoid of medicine and especially, needles.
When Grace told me about what she has to do to increase the stem cell growth, I was worried. I told her that I will bring her to the hospital everyday. She said “Dad, it will be too troublesome, let's figure a way”. She was given 1 week supplied dosage of needles and syringes.
After we went home, she jokingly asks her brother Aaron if he is willing to inject her with the needle into her stomach. Aaron quickly says, “I can go kill a snake, but not inject you, not me.” I could feel her struggle to overcome her needle phobia. Why did she want to go through the agony of it all? There is absolutely no way she can meet the recipient. There is also absolutely no way of knowing if the patient gets well from her stem cell. Why does she want to go though all the pain and agony?
Every day, for one whole week, she will hide in her room and inject the needle to her stomach by herself. I could feel the struggle inside while she does it. At the end of the week, she went back to the hospital and finished her stem cell donation. She told me “Dad, it is worth it”. She is a brave girl. I am proud of her. If someone asked me if I consider myself successful? I will tell them, yes I am very successful, not because of the money or car or property I own. I consider myself successful because I have good children who are willing to sacrifice and care for others.
On the second visit, they put her on the bed and then inserted a needle into her spinal cord. She has to lie in bed for sometime. All the while, she was joyful and bubbly. I was by her side. They took a few bags of liquid that looked like blood. I guessed they will extract the stem cells from these bags. On the next visit, she was called into the doctor room. They told her that because the patient is a big person, he needs more then the normal amount of stem cells and that her body is not producing enough stem cells. They have to inject some medicine into her body to hasten the production of stem cells before they harvest any more from her body. .They gave her a dozen syringes and needles. She has a choice of coming to the hospital everyday to have the injection done by the hospital nurse or she can do it herself at home by injecting it into her stomach.
This is where it becomes scary. When Grace was young, she could be a very problematic child especially when it came to taking medicine and seeing the doctor. She hated the smell of medicine. Whenever she was ill, she would not want to take any medicine prescription by the doctor. We will force her to take and she will spit it out instantly and she will start to cry. She hate needles too. She would scream at the top of her voice when the doctor injected her. I had a tough time trying to handle her at that time. She was absolutely paranoid of medicine and especially, needles.
When Grace told me about what she has to do to increase the stem cell growth, I was worried. I told her that I will bring her to the hospital everyday. She said “Dad, it will be too troublesome, let's figure a way”. She was given 1 week supplied dosage of needles and syringes.
After we went home, she jokingly asks her brother Aaron if he is willing to inject her with the needle into her stomach. Aaron quickly says, “I can go kill a snake, but not inject you, not me.” I could feel her struggle to overcome her needle phobia. Why did she want to go through the agony of it all? There is absolutely no way she can meet the recipient. There is also absolutely no way of knowing if the patient gets well from her stem cell. Why does she want to go though all the pain and agony?
Every day, for one whole week, she will hide in her room and inject the needle to her stomach by herself. I could feel the struggle inside while she does it. At the end of the week, she went back to the hospital and finished her stem cell donation. She told me “Dad, it is worth it”. She is a brave girl. I am proud of her. If someone asked me if I consider myself successful? I will tell them, yes I am very successful, not because of the money or car or property I own. I consider myself successful because I have good children who are willing to sacrifice and care for others.
Here is a picture of Grace as she is now. She dyed her hair red. Isn’t she beautiful? Just looks like me right : ) kekeke, she is still single. Any brave man around?I am now in the beautiful town of Kuching in East Malaysia. Kuching means
cat in the local language. I have been here many times and I don’t see many cats around. I have to find out how this name came about. In 2 hours time, I have to give a talk. Better prepare now. Tomorrow morning I fly to Sibu and then to Kota Kinabalu
3 comments:
Congratulation to you Mr. Richard. Rare to have a daughter with these beautiful traits. You are blessed.
and yes, she is sweet too.
Ling Gau frm Sarikei.
p.s. Maybe here strong will are inherited from the father.. :)
Hello Ling Gau,
Thank you for your compliment.
Bests, Richard
Dearest Grace
I have met your lovely mum and your great dad. I would love to meet you after reading this post.
You are the most courageous person on earth for you who care about people around you.
To me school grades are not as important as having good heart. I tell my boys the same.
I look forward to meeting you in person
cheers, Jean
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