A Life Worth Living (04/2021)

 

Title : A Life Worth Living
Author : Yvonne Foong
Publisher : Yvonne Foong
No. of Pages : 132


REVIEW 04/2021.

This is the sequel to her first book “I’m Not Sick, Just A Bit Unwell.” Although the total page is lesser than the previous, the writing in this book, however, is smaller and the spacing is also very tight. I had to strain my poor eyes to read them. But this sequel contains more information into her ordeal.

Interestingly, the cover of this book featured Yvonne in her ballet dress and smiling childishly. In fact, her chapter titles are illustrated with ballerina figures intricately and uniquely drawn for each chapter. 
 
The first book was written in 2006 and this one was in 2017. In that span of 11 years, Yvonne had undergone over 22 surgeries. I could not imagine how she had managed to endure them, including rehabilitation after the surgeries.
 
This book started with the story of her father, who suffered from a brain haemorrhage since she was 3 years old. His condition made him incapable of taking care of the family. When she wrote about her mother, it was in a less friendly note. Her relationship with her mother was always strained. It was “tough love” as she put it.
 

In the previous book, she wrote briefly about her Aunt Ivy. In this book, she provided details on her aunt and how her passing has turned the family upside down. She called this chapter “Family Drama.”
 
She has also written the same thing as she had written in the previous book, in Part 2, and much more. She even told in detail how her friend Cordelia managed to convince her to write the book.  It’s good for those who have not read the first book. In Part 2, she entitled it “Kindness of Strangers” and she wrote about the people whom have helped her throughout her ordeal – the doctors, her friends, her support group, and fellow NF2 sufferers.
 
One thing that she wrote in this book that made me reflect was about the naysayers who questioned her motive to get treatment abroad. To which she said that she was the only person who knew about her condition and she knew that the treatment in Malaysia could not provide her with a good solution, plus she had to also take into consideration her family’s condition who were incapable of handling her and themselves, should she become incapable too. Hence, her decision to go abroad. Another thing that hit me was the fact that Malaysians are such generous people who were willing to help one another. In fact, Yvonne had been asking for donations a few times and there were supporters who had been her regular contributors. She was also fortunate that someone managed to get her seats on the MAS flight back to Malaysia upgraded.
 
I admired her for the relentless efforts in raising funds for her own surgery. Hannah Yeoh, the Assemblylady was her friend who has helped her to raise the funds. She was also fortunate to have two ladies from an Amway group who brought her to their convention in Genting Highlands where she managed to collect over RM45,000 within one day. She also received donations from a church.
 
In part 3, Yvonne wrote about her father’s health which eventually deteriorated. Her father passed away on October 2010. Just a few days after that, she was on her way to Maryland, USA to participate in a clinical research program on NF2. She was there for the protocol visit for one week. When she came home, an accident occurred at home when she accidentally broke her ABI. She had to go to Singapore to get it fixed.
 
Then she met Shahidah, another NF2 sufferer who had her Acoustic Neuroma surgery at a local hospital, but it was not quite successful and it has also damaged her brain stem. Yvonne helped Shahidah by showing her how to raise funds for her treatment in US. Somehow, the support was not as good as what Yvonne had received.
 
 “Not only were they not supportive they tried to thwart her efforts and drag her down,” Yvonne wrote in response to the lack of support that Shahidah received. It was contrary to what people in her cycle had done for her. So, Yvonne all out to help Shahidah and by October 2011, they managed to gather enough funds for Shahidah to go to US together with her mother, Yvonne and her mother.
 
Part 4 was about her experience with a few men who were courting her. Although they knew that she was suffering from the illness, they still wanted to befriend her. One of them was a wealthy man who showered her with all kinds of materials, even cars with drivers to drive her around. Eventually, none of their relationship worked.
 
In Part 5, Yvonne wrote about her ordeal of having to go under the knife again, in 2015. By that time, they found out that two of her tumors had grown very large and her eyesight was deteriorating. This time around, she was having trouble swallowing food that they had to insert a feeding tube into her abdomen. She came home to Malaysia with the tube in her belly and she had to ask for assistance from the cabin crews during the flight.
 
She planned of setting up her own foundation to support other NF2 sufferers. Despite all that she had gone through, Yvonne was still being positive and upbeat about life.
 

“Life is worth living when I know that is has value and it makes me want to continue living no matter how hard situations can be at times. In fact, we are the ones who decide for ourselves whether our life is worth living or not.” 

Yvonne Foong

1986 - 2019