Inspiring Stories

He might have been born with cerebral palsy, but Mr Jovin Tan, 25, has never let his disability hamper him.

While he cannot walk and needs to use a wheelchair to get around, he expresses himself through sailing instead, picking it up at the age of 15.

It turned out that he was great at it. He was chosen to represent Singapore at the Paralympics first in 2004 then, again, in 2008. This September, he will once again represent Singapore in the global event in London. For his achievements, he will receive a Singapore Youth Award (SYA) 2012 on Sunday.

“I was born with this disability, and there is nothing I can do to change it,” he told my paper at a media conference at the National Youth Council in Toa Payoh yesterday. “(But) I wanted to do something meaningful with my life.”

He also described his love of sailing, and how he was introduced to it. When he was 15 years old, he was given the opportunity to try out sailing as a sport by the Singapore Disability Sports Council. He jumped at the chance, because he did not like being confined at home and wanted to experience the great outdoors.

Today, he says that sailing “really changed my relationships with family members”. He grew closer to his siblings – his brother, Kevin, 17, and his sister, Gina, 23 – who try to attend all of his training sessions.

In fact, Mr Tan said that his sister “is everything”.

She recently graduated from Singapore Polytechnic, where she studied tourism and resort management, but has put her career plans on hold to aid Mr Tan in his training for the London Paralympics. She hopes to accompany him to the event, to be held in Weymouth.

Mr Tan’s road to sporting excellence has not been easy. In 2004, he almost gave up his dream to enter the Paralympics. Training was rigorous and “I asked myself why I put myself through this torture”, he said.

He did not win any medals that year, but he has learnt from the experience. Today, his motto is that “there is no ‘can’ or ‘cannot’, only how much you want something”. He believes that anything can be achieved if you are willing to put in the effort.

Mr Tan is one of three recipients – the other two being youth mentor Aaron Maniam and research scientist Yeo Sze Ling – of the SYA 2012.

Dr Yeo, 35, is also disabled – she is blind. But she went on to achieve a PhD in maths, and helps other blind students cope with their disability in school.

On Sunday, the recipients will receive their awards from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Istana.

The SYA is the highest national honour conferred on youth. It is given to youth who have excelled in their fields of pursuit and contributed significantly to society.

Past awardees include singer Stefanie Sun, bowler Remy Ong and 2004 Singapore Idol Taufik Batisah.

This article was first published in Asiaone

Heroes need not necessarily leap into a burning building or race to a crash site to save lives.

Sometimes the act of heroism takes a much simpler form – like a trip to the blood bank, perhaps.

And this is how Mr Manoharan Ramalingam proves that he is indeed a hero. For nearly 40 years, he has been donating blood regularly at the blood bank located at the Health Sciences Authority in Outram.

“For me, it’s a must. I make sure I donate blood once every three months. It’s a must,” said the 58-year-old Singaporean, who made his 200th contribution on March 15 this year. As if that wasn’t enough, he has been a regular plasma and platelet donor for the last three years. The plasma and platelets donation procedure is similar to that of a blood donation except that it takes a shorter time.

On June 16 – World Blood Donor Day – Mr Ramalingam will be awarded the Medal For Life by the Singapore Red Cross Society. 1,644 blood donors and 36 BloodMobile organisers will be presented with awards in this global annual event for their efforts and contributions to this noble cause.

Mr Ramalingam remembers his first donation in 1972 clearly, as if it happened yesterday. He said:

“I had just joined the army as a regular. I was just a recruit and there was a volunteer blood donation drive. At first, I was scared.”

Encouraged by his then Officer in Command, the young Mr Ramalingam eventually overcame his apprehension and joined the line of soldiers to donate blood. It was an experience that converted him.

“The pain is like an ant bite! It lasts for barely three seconds and after that it’s okay,” he added with a laugh, recalling the relief after that first donation.

However, he turns serious as he points out how crucial that small act can be and adds: “When you realise that it’s about saving lives, the slight pain you feel won’t matter. It’s important people realise that.”

Now a defence executive officer at Singapore Combat Engineers, Mr Ramalingam’s consistent efforts have been recognised already: In 1999, he was awarded the Gold Award, then in 2005 the Diamond Award and in 2007 he got the Champion of Champions Award from then Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan.

According to the Singapore Red Cross website, Singapore’s stocks of Group A and O blood type are generally low. The Blood Donor Recruitment Programme’s head Sherlee Choliluddin noted that in 2011, there were a total of 67,310 blood donors of which only about a third were first-timers. She and her organisation are hoping to have more donors come forward.

Mr Ramalingam, who has tried to encourage his wife and two children to donate blood with little success, says: “I think people are scared or they are just too busy to come forward. I mean, it does take some time in the hospital so I try to get my friends to come along with me. It then becomes like an outing.”

He adds that he feels a sense of satisfaction when he sees those who he has encouraged going for blood donation drives. “I get the young boys at my office to head down to the drives. And then they come back telling me that they got over their fears and would go back again to donate. I feel proud that I had done my part in bringing in more donors,” he said.

According to him, a trip to the blood bank for a donation usually takes about two hours. “They will do a medical examination of the donor before the procedure. You have to answer some questions and they will assess you to make sure you are fit enough to give blood. The blood donation itself takes about an hour,” explained Mr Ramalingam.

And when you ask the youthful-looking man, who makes it a point to keep fit, for his tips to someone who may be considering donating blood, he says: “I’ll tell them to not tense up. Listen to your iPod or try to chat with the nurses. And never look at the needle.

“And, of course, my most important piece of advice: Have a hearty breakfast! That’s really important. I always have a good breakfast before I head down to the blood bank.”

This article was first published in Asiaone

When the Greek tanker Spyros exploded at Jurong Shipyard in 1978, killing 76 people and injuring 69 others, Mr Suppaiyya Velaisamy stepped forward to help by donating blood for the first time.

Inspired by his elder brother, a regular blood donor at that time, Mr Velaisamy, then aged 20, overcame his initial fear of needles and donated blood at the Bloodbank@HSA in Outram Road.

“Maybe I was a little scared of the needle at first, but most of the nurses were very experienced, and it felt like only a small ant-bite,” he told my paper.

Since then, Mr Velaisamy, 54 and working in the Republic of Singapore Navy, donates blood once a month. Since 1978, he has donated blood a total of 157 times.

“I don’t actually keep track of the number of times I’ve donated.

As long as the blood goes to somebody, I am happy,” he said.

He is among 42 recipients of the “Champion of Champions” award, handed out by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA), for achieving a lifetime milestone of donating blood more than 150 times.

“I feel very thankful,” he said, adding that he is appreciative that he and other donors have been given recognition “because of all the time taken to donate”.

A typical blood- donation session takes half an hour, and up to an hour and a half for a process called Apheresis – the extraction of platelets and plasma from the blood. Mr Velaisamy has also participated in this process.

He will receive his medal at an appreciation ceremony and carnival organised by the HSA and the Singapore Red Cross on Saturday. The theme for the ceremony is “Every Donor is a Hero”.

When asked how he felt to be honoured as a hero, he said: “I’m just doing my part.”

The carnival, to be held at the Singapore Flyer, is open to donors and their families and organised in conjunction with World Blood Donor Day 2012, which is observed today.

In Singapore, an average of 350 units of blood from a total of 450 donors is required to be collected daily. According to an HSA spokesman, only 1.8 per cent of the entire population are donors.

“I encourage others to become donors because it is one donation that guarantees that you can save a life,” urged Mr Velaisamy.

This article was first published in Asiaone

These three women think what they do is nothing extraordinary.

At their age, between 55 and 60, many would think of taking it easy but Mrs Sarasa Sheshadri (inset), Ms Nirmala Nair (above, left) and Ms Padma Krishnan (above, right) are volunteering their time and energy in various ways to help the community whether it is young children at risk or senior citizens who need help.

Mrs Sheshadri spends three days a week volunteering as a helpline volunteer, chatting over the telephone with children who confide in her their fears, worries, doubts and even their joy.

While Ms Nair’s day job as a nurse is about helping people, she goes above and beyond her profession to offer her services to teach foreign domestic workers first aid and even took her skills to India to work with street children and children with HIV.

As for Ms Krishnan, she uses the stage as her platform to reach out to senior citizens in Singapore to encourage them to be more active and get involved.

She volunteers with three senior citizens drama groups, spending her week either performing or in rehearsals.

It is the love they put into what they do that makes them one of a kind.

This article was first published in Asiaone