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A very touching story
I am Veronica. I am an eighties child who grew up in
a public housing estate. Originally, I hailed from a family of five.
I have an elder sister and a younger sister.
We had to overcome a lot of adversity among
our family since we were young.
When I studied in Primary school,
there were a lot of disputes among my family.
My father was self-employed.
As the economic situation was at a downturn at the time,
we came across a lot of difficulties.
There was a lot of friction between my parents.
Whenever my father returned home,
we three girls would hide in our room.
It was because we did not want to hear our parents fighting.
During Primary five or six,
my father expressed that he was unable to support us four anymore.
He suggested sending us to a social welfare agency for foster care.
He also suggested getting a divorce with my mother.
We were all terrified. We only knew how to keep crying.
In the end, my mother accepted the divorce.
She did not send us to the social welfare agency.
She was determined to raise us on her own.
My mother was only an ordinary housewife.
She did not have any work experience.
To find a job was very stressful to her.
She had to work during the day and in the evening;
she had to rush home to make dinner.
We three girls learned how to be tough and independent.
We took care of one another. We also handled our own studies.
Our grades were average but we did not need our mother
to worry about us academically.
When I was fifteen, I began working part-time jobs after I got off school.
I had to help the family financially.
But when I was around sixteen or seventeen years old,
my elder sister had acute leukemia,
which basically means blood cancer.
The pressure at home was even greater.
My elder sister had to stop her studies to undertake chemotherapy.
My mother had to go to and from the hospital each day.
In light of the situation at home,
she had to give up some of her work.
Our family life was in red light due to the daily hospital stay costs.
At that time, we only spent around ten dollars on dinner each night.
We could only buy bean sprouts to go with rice.
But what I loved most was eggs with rice mixed with soy sauce.
It was cheap and tasty. Our family did not whine and complain.
We would enjoy each meal.
My elder sister was also very brave.
She faced her illness positively. When she was in bad shape,
she would vomit so much that she could not get out of bed.
When she felt better, she would proactively work as a volunteer
in the hospital to help and support patients in need.
She would also assist friends to teach interest classes to help the family.
She also did a lot of exercise.
I learned what real positivity was from my elder sister.
I would think positively in all situations.
After a year or two, my sister began to go into recovery phase.
She was able to stay at home for a prolonged period of time.
She only had to visit the hospital at regular intervals for
low dosage chemotherapy injections.
Our family lifestyle began to turn around and return to normal.
We all felt that we have endured our most difficult times.
But the most unfortunate accident took place. In the year 2007,
when my elder sister went back to the hospital for a follow-up,
the doctor wrongfully administered her medication into her spinal cord,
when it should have been into her vein. It was not noticed at the time.
After one day, my elder sister felt very rigid. After a number of days,
she was sent to the ICU and drifted into a semi-coma.
For the next ten or so days,
we spent our time accompanying my elder sister.
In the end, the doctor declared her brain dead.
The doctor also suggested pulling the tube off
her throat to allow her to leave the world.
My elder sister passed away peacefully with family surrounding her.
From a family of five, we became a family of three.
After a number of dark and depressing days,
we eventually received compensation money for the medical error.
I decided to use a partial amount of the compensation money along with
the salary I made from my part-time jobs on further studying.
I wanted to fulfil my elder sister’s dream of completing her own studies.
I also hope that one day I could become a financial pillar to my family
so that they can live a stable life. Over a number of years,
I completed my degree. But I wanted to spread my sister’s spirit of helping
those in need. That was why I applied for a speech therapy program.
I hope to help those with special needs.
Today, I have completed my masters degree.
I am also a therapist.
I can contribute in small ways to the rehabilitation community.
Each person will come across large and small obstacles in life.
Some people will complain during adversity and choose to give up,
self-destroy and do drugs. Some youth may even live on the edge
and involve themselves in illicit activities.
In my life, I have come across countless of obstacles.
When my parents divorced, I chose to be strong and
learned to become independent.
When there was financial difficulty at home,
I looked proactively for part-time jobs
to alleviate the burden at home.
When my sister was ill, we, as a family, did not complain.
We only confronted everything positively.
When my elder sister passed away,
I worked hard to upgrade myself with the hopes of bringing
a more stable future to my family.
After ten years of arduous times,
I am now twenty-seven years old.
I have been very fortunate.
I made the correct choice each time.
I hope to share with you all that
obstacles often manifest and we cannot control them.
But during hard times,
our attitude and how we approach those difficult dats;
as well as our decision making, are all within our grasp.
Obstacles may be hard to hurdle over but you can surely overcome them.
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