The World Of Tzu Chi(Vol.114).

2019 • 09 46 Heng Gek Wah (front row, right) is pictured here with her family. She is deeply grateful to her family for their unconditional love and care throughout her ordeal. eople who presented her with a copy of The World of Tzu Chi more than ten years ago. She admired the volunteers and their dedication to charitable deeds, which inspired her to become a volunteer. At that time, however, Gek Wah had no way of contacting Tzu Chi, but her chance finally came after she relocated to the Cheras Ria condominium with her family and chanced upon volunteers conducting an awareness campaign in the vicinity. She signed up as a donor and moved on to participating in recycling work at the Taman Mutiara Timur KL Recycling Point at the encouragement of the volunteers. She was only able to devote two hours monthly to recycling work as her husband disapproved of her decision to volunteer on the grounds that she was obligated to care for their children, who were still young then. Once their youngest daughter entered primary school, Gek Wah’s husband finally relented and gave his nod of approval after witnessing Gek Wah’s enthusiasm towards recycling work. Gek Wah was overcome with emotion when she received her volunteer’s uniform in late 2011; it was a moment years in the making. Without further ado, she immersed herself in the thick of the action, eagerly participating in home visits and study group sessions, as well as promoting Jing Si products. After the space on the ground level of her condominium block had been converted into the Tzu Chi Cheras Utama Recycling Centre in 2013, Gek Wah reported for recycling duty every day without fail. She attended the volunteer training courses, but before she couldmake it as a certified volunteer, the unexpected happened. “I suffered a sudden stroke. It occurred on the eve of Chinese New Year in 2015, when the car maintenance workshop was busier than usual. I was exhausted from juggling between fetching my daughter to school and towing cars to the workshop. On the 7th day of Chinese NewYear, I felt my body suddenly turn limp,” she recounted. She was rushed to the hospital by her family and was diagnosed with a blocked blood vessel in her brain, which caused a mild stroke. On the 3rd day of her hospitalization, she not only became immobile and lost her ability to speak, but her memory had also started fading to the extent that she failed to even recognize her family. The doctor prescribed a course of treatment that combined Western medicine and Traditional ChineseMedicine, following which her condition was declared stable. She was given the green light to recuperate at home. Gek Wah has been living with high blood pressure, but never expected to be stricken by a stroke, which confined her to a wheelchair for six