Teen quits school to support family, but ends up paralysed after accident
Out of love for his struggling mother, a 17-year-old Malaysian boy stopped schooling and started working to support the family.
But he was left paralysed after a hit-and-run accident in Johor last month.
Phoong Jun Woi, who worked at a mobile phone shop, was hit by a car while on his way back from work on a motorcycle.
His mother, Suah Moy Yin, 35, said her oldest son used to be an active teen who did not complain when he was forced to stop schooling.
"Now, he cannot even talk, stand or walk. He also has problems identifying family members and friends.
"He needs support round the clock and I have to take leave from work as a shopkeeper to take care of him," she said.
Diapers, nutritional milk
The teen can only drink milk through a tube and has to wear diapers.
The nutritional milk is not cheap – a tin of it costs RM72 (S$26) and lasts three to four days.
Expenses for his care comes up to almost RM1,000 a month.
Madam Suah, a divorcee, said she has been forced to dip into her savings to cover the boy's needs, support her two other children, aged nine and seven months, and care for her 60-year-old mother.
Johor Social Security Organisation director Ismail Abi Hashim said the agency will support the family by giving them diapers, nutritional milk, a mattress, a suction pump, a recliner wheelchair and a special bed.
The agency has given Jun Woi RM1,050 as income replacement for the days he was on medical leave. He will continue to be paid as long as he has medical certificates.
"We will be monitoring his condition from time to time. Continuous help will be provided to him.
"We are also planning to send Phoong to our rehabilitation centre in Malacca to help his recovery process," he said.
Source: The Star Online
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