Few months back, Mr Wong approached us, in hope that Cheng Hong Welfare Service Society (CHWSS) will settle his last rites when he passes on.
Mr Wong contracted a rare form of cancer known as “Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor” (medically known to affect only 0.001% of the general population). To make things worse, he also faces financial and family issues. After being enrolled as our Afterlife Memorial Service (AMS) member, he shared that he is grateful that CHWSS will be there for him during his final journey and hopes that he will be able to give something back in his next life.
Mr Wong shared with us a story he titled “6,000 Days of Filial Piety”. As the eldest son, he was given the unspoken responsibility to protect the family and businesses. When the business prospered during its hay days, it inculcated greed within the family members. The relationship between the family members became strained, and he became penniless after a series of lawsuit.
However, this has never deterred him from trying to repair the relationship between them. For the past 19 years (6,000 days), he had been trying to reach out to the family and was heartbroken to hear that he was not allowed to speak to his beloved mother before he underwent a life-threatening surgery.
While the doctor’s initial prognosis was 1 year, his condition has taken a turn for the worst recently. He has since become paralysed and numerous attempts to cure were fruitless. The doctor had given him around 3 to 6 more months to live, and all treatment has since been ceased, as the medical advice to him was to ease his pain rather than attempting to cure it. He has been transferred to a hospice to live out his final days. Nevertheless, he remains positive and is mentally prepared for his eventual passing.
Despite all of these, Mr Wong took the time to write us a letter in hope that we will be able to share his story to the world and inspire people who are going through hardship in life. This inspires us to write this post to share with everyone that while our aim is to help the vulnerable communities, often than not we get inspired and motivated by our beneficiaries.
We hope this anecdote inspires you as much as it has inspired us to do good for the vulnerable communities.
