My Story: Mission PossibleBy Lin Shuangchun

This is a story about me, a physically challenged adult living with Cerebral Palsy and Spastic

Diplegia for 29 years and still counting. The game of life is never easy.

I vividly remember my childhood was spent going through weekly physiotherapy sessions

that were painful and half yearly visits to doctors at Alexandra Hospital and National

University Hospital. School holidays came and gone in a wink of an eye, sometimes in an

instant if an operation was needed. Mum tried ways and means to cure me of a medical

condition that was too difficult for a kid still crawling on his tummy to understand.

I went into a mainstream primary school, thanks to Mum who believed that I am only

limited in movement but not in intellect. For the first time, I understood what living with a

handicap meant. I had little friends and even my form teacher was discriminating me by

telling the class to not make friends with me. Moving on to secondary education, life got no

better when I realized that I couldn’t do titration in chemistry class, my favourite subject and

an essential component of pure sciences that I was studying. My dream of pursuing a

medical degree to find a cure for liver cancer that took my lovely grandma away went up in

smoke.

It was a blessing that I didn’t get into the science stream in junior college. Life seemingly got

better when I discovered my love for History and Language by choosing the Arts Stream.

However, I was undone by a taxing school timetable and more importantly, the need for

love and relationship. I longed for a girlfriend like any fine young man would desire at

seventeen. My partner has always been my elbow crutch, offering unwavering support and

unconditional ‘love’. He was an obstacle to being accepted by any girl that I fancied but I am

‘married’ to him for life. No girl wants to be second best.

The Army dropped a bombshell by asking me to serve National Service, something I didn’t

expect, like my lousy grades that wasn’t good enough for university. Off I went to Tekong

and a posting at Kranji Camp. Two and half years were bittersweet for me. I felt wanted and

accepted by society having gone through the rite of passage for every Singaporean Son. I

somewhat fulfilled my ambition of becoming a soldier, with a pen as my sword, without a

rifle to speak of my own. Ironically, I was ostracized by my peers who felt I brought disgrace

to the uniform.

Armed with only an ‘A’ Levels certificate, I headed out to work at twenty after completing

NS. It was a life changing experience. I was given the social welfare portfolio working in a

Community Centre. Twenty years of self-pity disappeared during a house visit to an elderly

living in an old one-room rental flat with nothing more than a mattress. My physical

limitations were incomparable to the dire straits that the old man was facing every day. Self-

reflection followed and I set my mind to change my situation around and break all self-

imposed limits that were mere mental weaknesses.

I took up driving lessons at Handicaps Welfare Association with the aim to improve my

mobility. A part time degree course at SIM University followed after I bought a car under the

Disabled Persons Scheme to make going for night classes a little more bearable. As the

saying goes, ‘Good things come to those who wait’. It was in University that I found my

partner, a sweet and caring girl that looked beyond my physical limitations and embraced

me for who I am. While I fell short of being an oncology doctor, I remained on the same

path till today serving as a Volunteer Management Executive at National Cancer Centre

Singapore and making a difference in the lives of cancer patients.

In retrospect, I would have achieved more had I not focused so much on what I couldn’t do.

Being disabled doesn’t mean mission impossible. It simply means ‘I-M-POSSIBLE’. In the

words of Nick Vujicic, ‘... for every disability you have, you are blessed with more than enough

abilities to overcome your challenges.’ I am blessed with a supportive mother who never gave up me

and taught me to get up on my own two feet. The harshness of early years moulded me in a fighter

with unbreakable spirit. I am thankful to my school teachers who inspired me to find my own niche. I

am also grateful to Mr Loh, HWA’s driving instructor for sharing his life experiences and motivating

me to achieve more with my own transport. Cerebral Palsy is a condition but never let it be a disease

that kills your faith in what you can accomplish. The game of life deals different cards to each

individual. Do not despair if your hand is bad. You deserve a pat on your back if you have played it to

the best of your ability. Winning or losing is only part of the equation. I am still counting my blessings

every day.