A 24-year-old woman from Penang needs RM35,510.50 to buy the orthopaedic implants that will straighten her spine, after the curve in her back reached 70 degrees. The sum covers the implants alone, not the rest of her treatment.
Tan Swee Yee noticed at the age of 13 that her waist sat unevenly. Her elder sister, then studying radiology at Universiti Malaya, was the first to suspect scoliosis, and a Penang hospital went on to record a 40-degree curve, the New Straits Times reported.
She moved to Universiti Malaya Medical Centre for treatment in 2021, by which point the curve had reached 70 degrees. Severe back pain, numbness in her left leg and difficulty standing or walking for long periods followed.
Before operating, her doctors asked her to bring her weight down from 104kg to 75kg in order to lower the risk of infection. She has met that target.
An MRI taken during the surgical assessment then found a tumour at the L2-L3 level of her spine, a second obstacle standing in front of the posterior spinal fusion. Tan is due to have the tumour removed on 30 Oct, and the fusion will wait on her recovery and on a free surgical slot.
The fusion is to be handled by Dr Saturveithan Chandirasegaran, a consultant in the orthopaedic surgery department at Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (Harian Metro), and Tan, the youngest of three sisters, comes from Nibong Tebal.
She has already given up her job as a clerk at a transport company so that she can keep her appointments, leaving her with no income while she travels between Penang and Kuala Lumpur. She stays with friends on some nights and in hotels on others.
Money at home is tight. Her father died in 2021, her mother is visually impaired and does not work, and the household leans on her elder sister, Tan Swee Teng, 31, who earns RM2,030 a month in a factory.
Left any longer, she said, the curve would keep growing and could begin to affect the lungs and other internal organs. “When I was 13, I noticed that my waist was slightly uneven compared with other people,” she said.
Her hope is to recover and go back to work. “I want to earn enough money to support my mother and sisters because they have helped me so much,” she said.
Tan also thanked the Media Prima-NSTP Humanitarian Fund and the members of the public whose contributions have carried her treatment this far. “I am very grateful to everyone who has helped me. Thank you very much for supporting me,” she said.
Donations can go to the fund’s Bank Muamalat account, 1401 0008 8427 18. Cheques made out to the Media Prima-NSTP Humanitarian Fund can be posted to the Group Corporate Communications Department, Media Prima Bhd, Level 1, Anjung Riong, Balai Berita, 31 Jalan Riong, 59100 Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.
