Where There is Love, Nothing is too Much Trouble

“To all parents, please never ever, ever give up on your children both special and normal because they are gifts from God and where there is love, nothing is too much trouble and there’s always time (Abdul Bahá)”

says six year old Chef Leah with a big heart who bakes cupcake to raise funds for her brain damaged sister, Adele to receive treatment.

Adele, at two month old,  was diagnosed with Microcephaly along with Quadriplegia Cerebral Palsy which meant that she would not to see, hear, move and may not even live a long life. When Choy and I heard that our world crumbled. I was not able to function, I literally cried day and night. I just couldn’t phantom how God could do this to me, to us. What did I do wrong to be given such a test?

Then Leah who was merely three years old came to me and said one of the most profound thing,

“Mummy, please don’t cry, Adele will be ok. All she need is to see the doctors and go to hospital. We just need to pray and God will protect her. God loves her just like how He loves me. She will be fine Mummy, she will be fine. Please don’t cry, please don’t cry.”

These words stay with me. I got back my senses, I knew from that very moment that I have to be strong for the girls and that I have to accept His Plan.

Choy and I got married at the age of 27 and had our first child, Leah at 29. I was at the peak of my career and was enjoying all the exciting challenges that both Leah and work had to offer. We were extremely fortunate to have my mum staying with us and helped take care of Leah. The wish of quitting my job to be a stay at home mum remained to be a dream as we got drawn into the material world of chasing more material wins to fulfill our material commitments.

We had Adele when we were 31 and as I thought life was so complete and perfect with two lovely girls, a good job that allows me to work from home periodically and a lovely home; God decided to throw us a curve ball – knowing that prognosis! Why? I have done my share of good deeds. I even share my breast milk to feed twelve other babies !

I have always dreamt of retiring before the age 35 so that I could educate my children and give them all the attention and opportunity that they need to grow up as fine adults. Maybe I wished too hard and God decided to answer my prayers!

I managed to get approval from my company to work from home full time as I needed to bring Adele to all the doctors’ appointments as well as taking her to all the therapies that she needed. Choy and I thought that we needed to work very hard in order to save enough money for Leah and Adele continue their life. Due to the demanding schedules of her therapies and doctors’ appointments, Choy took a leap of faith by quitting his nine to six office job to take on a contract assignment where he was able to work from home full time. We spent a huge part of our monthly income on Adele’s therapies but never really saw any significant improvement.

Then we were connected with families who have attended the Glenn Doman course on ‘What to Do About Your Brain Injured Child” in Singapore. We read the book. While we were hopeful it would help Adele, we were also very skeptical about his program especially when he emphasized on one parent being home to nurture the injured child at home. I couldn’t imagine that I would have to quit my job and leave the financial burden to Choy. We did a few of the stuff taught in the book sometime in April of 2013 and after a couple of weeks, we noticed that Adele was more responsive. That’s when we decided that I should attend the course in July, 2013 in Singapore.

I was convinced after the first day of the course that I wanted to quit and helped Adele full time at home. I left what supposed to be a very fulfilling job in Sept, 2013 and work full time on Adele’s program as well as Leah’s homeschooling. We were challenged with reduced income and an impending trip to Philadelphia for Adele’s first assessment at the Institutes for the Achievements of Human Potential. Leah came up with the idea of selling cupcakes to raise funds for her sister. We didn’t how to bake a proper cake, let alone selling them. We picked up the courage, searched for a decent recipe and watched a few videos on Youtube. Leah at merely five years old suggested that we should open a virtual shop in Facebook where she could sell her cupcakes and cakes to raise funds for her sister. The name of her shop in Facebook is https://www.facebook.com/chefleahwithabigheart/. We baked and decorated cupcakes together and after two years of baking, Leah managed to raise over USD6, 000 for her sister and got both her sister and herself two sponsored trips to the US. The internet has helped not only with her baking and decorating cupcakes skills but it has also helped us with our homeschooling journey for Leah.

I started sharing our journey from discovering Adele’s condition to embarking on her journey to wellness through IAHP in my blog, https://borntobloved.wordpress.com/. Little did we expect the overflowing financial support from readers of our blogs, Facebook followers, friends and relatives who extended prayers and financial help to make our first trip to Philadelphia possible in Dec, 2013. We have since made four trips to Philadelphia and Adele has gone from not hearing to now listening and making meaningful sounds. She went from not moving and as stiff as a board to now crawling on the floor. She is also reading high school level books and love mathematic. Her favorite subject is Biology and is particularly interested in Neuroscience.

Leah on the other hand has grown from an amateur baker to an expert baker baking cupcakes and cakes for events. She has gone from raising funds for her sister to now working closely with FoodAid Foundation providing cupcakes to the less fortunate, refuges and orphans. She has recently travelled to Jakarta where she spoke to a crowd of 800 students of Bina Bangsa School sharing with them her baking journey and why she is doing what she does. Recently Leah has also been awarded the Tuanku Bainun Young Changemaker Award making her one of the top three for Malaysia.

People often asked if I am still working and I would proudly say that I am now working for my girls at home.

Because the haze and pollution affected Adele badly, we moved from Klang to a small and quaint town in Alor Gajah, Malacca. Choy continues to work from home as a Data Analyst while I continue to homeschool Leah and work with Adele on her program. It has been an amazing journey thus far and I thank God for all the wonderful blessings. Adele has taught me to laugh through adversities and Leah on the other hand has taught me the meaning of perseverance. Through the girls, I have learnt to appreciate every single blessing and accept each affliction with much patience, rely upon God and put all my trust in HIM.

Story of Leah:

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/features/article/little-girl-with-a-big-heart-bakes-cupcakes-for-the-needy-video

Announcement of the top 3 Tuanku Bainun Young Changemaker Award Winners:

http://www.therakyatpost.com/life/newsmakers/2015/11/18/when-children-take-charge-the-results-are-captivating/

The Young Changemaker, Leah Choy Sze Qin

“Be patient under all conditions, and put your whole trust and confidence in God”Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p296

 

By: Tay Mei Yean

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