A Bridge Crossed

By Albert Wong Kit-Ming

Life has always been a constant challenge often times it is only a little bump in
the road but sometimes a serious challenge presents itself. I suffer from a
currently incurable and deadly genetic condition called Duchenne Muscular
Dystrophy. It causes irreversible muscle degeneration affecting my whole body
that will eventually lead to heart failure. Many do not realise at first glance that I
am effectively paralysed albeit with limited usage of my hands which I use
mainly to control my wheelchair and use a computer. Reading from papers and
books is difficult as I need someone to turn the pages. All my reading materials
are therefore leaved through on a computer.

After studying for four and a half years in KDU while at the same time
overcoming many difficulties, I finally graduated with a LLB. To me all the
obstacles I weathered were worth it as I have gained so much knowledge and
acquired a much firmer philosophical perspective on the many facets of life. The
completion of my degree also has finally led me to my next journey as I have
finally gained a direction after having no idea where to move on next as late as
the end of 2009.

After my A-Levels I enrolled for my University of London External Programme in

2007 thinking it would be interesting and relatively simple. In some ways I was
not wrong so I was quite relaxed for the first half of my first year. Then I started
to realise that I needed to put in more effort or risk failing. After some
contemplation I managed to devise a new study method. What was planned was
to practice past year questions and handing them to my lecturers for evaluation.
I even managed to get a friend on board. The events subsequent to all these
plans were nothing short of very traumatic and arduous.

In early 2008 I was within an inch of life, nearly suffocating to death. Everything
began with something as mundane as a simple sore throat that began on a
Friday. On Sunday it worsened into no more than a bad cold. That morning I went
to a clinic in order to be nebulised to loosen the phlegm in my respiratory tract. It
is difficult for me to cough properly as my breathing muscles are weakened. That
evening I felt that something was terribly amiss as I found breathing increasingly
labourious. When I was sure that I needed to go to a hospital or I would drown in
my own phlegm ,I was quickly rushed to the University Malaya Medical Centre in
my van. On the way to the hospital I passed out but not before frightening
everyone by declaring I was about to meet my demise.

By the time I arrived at the hospital my lips have turned blackish blue due to the
lack of oxygen. At first glance the doctors thought I had a heart attack.
Something else then started giving trouble too as the doctors found it impossible
to intubate me in the normal fashion. They rushed me to the operating theatre in
order to shove the breathing tube down my throat. All that time I was
unconscious and felt nothing but I know it was extremely traumatic emotional on
my entire family. After I was stabilised they placed in the Cardiac Care Unit since
the first specialist who treated me was a cardiologist even though this episode
had nothing to do with my heart.

Eight days were spent attached to ventilator as I could not breathe on my own.
The doctors however could not remove the tubes without an issue. If they were
to simply pull them out while doing nothing else my breathing would still be
weak and I would have been reintubated. What they therefore did was conduct a
tracheotomy surgery. The procedure was quite simple; a hole was made in my
throat and through my trachea. A long plastic tube was then inserted into the
cavity. When the scars healed a different tube was placed inside that allowed me
to speak. I spent a month in the hospital where I could not speak for the most
part. Not being able to speak was really hell for me.

Almost dying changed me in a negative way at first as I wanted give up on

everything and spend my life enjoying myself as my life had no meaning as it
could end in a short time. This nihilistic approach to life started to wane after a
while it remained. My near death also seriously hampered the progress of my
studies; I knew taking the first year finals in May would be figuratively suicidal.
To make matters worse the tracheotomy tube caused me to have a lot of phlegm
that had to be unpleasantly drawn out quite often using a specialised machine.
Luckily, my exam was deferred to November as my deferment request was
accepted by the University. The deferment gave me time to take things at a
slower pace that I needed to put myself together. Despite the adversity I passed
my November exams without too much issue.

My second year unfortunately made me hate my Law studies no thanks to the

heavily technical and dry Law of Trusts and Land Law. At times my dislike for
those subjects made me want to give up and return to my more nihilistic
approach of only wanting to drown myself in entertainment (mainly computer
games). However, I could not bring myself to truly give up n

ot wanting to disappoint all the hopes that everyone including myself to at the
very least completing my degree. That was the reason I soldiered on with the
hope that the course would get more interesting. My dislike actually almost cost
me dearly, scraping though Trust by hitting the passing mark but at least my
other subjects were fine.

My nihilism almost disappeared entirely when the third year started as I

discovered the part of law that will forever fascinate and interest me,
Jurisprudence. As the philosophy of law it sets out basically to answer the
question of what is the law. From such a starting point my study of Jurisprudence
the answer to the elusive definition of justice was discovered although this is
only a small part of the subject. In the study of law the term justice is often
thrown around like confetti with many like me not understanding its true
meaning. Justice put simply is people being treated equally as everyone would
treat themselves. The subject also made take a stronger stand on issues with the
ability of expressing myself fully if need be.

In the end I managed obtain a Second Lower mark for my study of the law.
Maybe I could have done better but another bridge has been crossed and can
now start walking towards a new bridge. At my graduation as I received my scroll
I kept thinking on my journey so far where I traversed numerous crossings while
facing countless hurdles. Recently an application was made for me to pursue my
Masters in Law in the University of Malaya. If everything goes according to plan I
will be writing a research paper on abolishing the death penalty. It is almost
certain that writing such an important issue will help in upholding our moral
integrity.

Completing higher education is always merely one journey in a person’s

educational journeys and as long as one is able to, it is all worth it.