DUMC Stories
I Was Blind, Now I See by Stevens Chan, KL Zone
I lost my eyesight in 2007 at the age
of 45 due to glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Prior to my blindness, I was a busy entrepreneur interested only in acquiring wealth and power. In my pursuit of these desires, I sacrificed my health in excessive drinking and smoking, late nights, and unhealthy eating habits. I sacrificed time I should have spent with my wife and family and even compromised my character sometimes just to fulfill my ultimate goal which was to be rich and powerful one day. In early 2002, I was awarded a supply contract worth RM2.5 million which would earn me a whopping RM1 million in profits. Needless to say, I was overjoyed with this success after years of sacrifice. I told my long-suffering wife, Kaye, that all of her sacrifices would soon be worth it as we would be millionaires soon. Or so I thought! A few weeks before receiving my first tranche of payment, I was stricken with a very bad headache. It was so bad that not only was my vision becoming blurry, I also could not raise my head due to the immense pain. The GP then advised me to see an ophthalmologist as he suspected the pain could be due to an eye infection. This news came out of the blue. “Glaucoma? What’s that?” I asked my
