Leonard Chua The man who died twice

Leonard Chua

The man who died twice 

At 24, Leonard Chua Tze Yeu had the world at his feet. The former air steward, bodybuilder, model turned-entrepreneur, was about to embark on a project and make his first million ringgit. On October 6, 2005, he drove up from his hometown in Melaka to meet a potential partner about his new business venture in Kuala Lumpur. Chua recalled, “My friend had passed my proposal to his analyst. He was quite keen, just waiting for his analyst to say yes. That day when the analyst was supposed to meet up with me, he suddenly called and said he had an emergency to attend to and didn’t turn up. That night, I met with an accident on the Federal Highway. It was 6th of October. There goes my ability to walk until today…” This is his story.

The accident

I met with an accident on the Federal Highway on October 6. It happened around midnight and I was admitted to UH (University Hospital) where I was awarded until March 2, 2006. The Honda CRV skidded and hit a tree opposite the Volvo outlet. That “stupid” CRV broke into two. I was very lucky that a civilian who lived nearby took my hand phone and dialled my last-called number. He called the ambulance as well. Luckily, that number was to my godfather, Fudge Foo, who stayed nearby and he was on his way back home then. Soon the ambulance came and it was quite a hassle to carry me out from the car as that CRV was a total loss, a wreck. I was bleeding all over. I broke my neck, fractured my lower ribs, broke my right leg, crushed my left ankle and injured my bladder. So I am paralyses from my upper chest down.

In medical terms, I am classified as a T1 complete high paraplegia. I was in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) for one and a half months. I had cardiac arrest twice, once before the operation, and another time, in the ICU. When I was in ICU, I had all kinds of lung infection, yeast, bugs, etc.

My legs and my head had bedsores, due to lying down for too long, without changing positions. Then I was transferred to the ward to get further treatment and rehabilitation. I had problems with short-term memory, visual and speech problems and lost my math skills due to hypoxia (lack of oxygen from brain injury), caused by my two cardiac arrest. I “died” twice – this is my third life.

I could not even press the lift button at that time, I kept missing the targeted button.

I had nightmares almost every night.

Nevertheless, I am very strong and positive.

But I will not be what I am now without my parents’ help. They slept near my bed from when I was admitted until I was discharged.

I won’t be what I am today without them. I might’ve been dead.

My family, my support

This information is from my mother as I could not remember anything from the time of the accident until two months after the accident. I was in a very bad shape. I was on morphine all the time. I can’t help stressing that without my family’s support, I won’t be here. My maternal aunts and uncles rushed to the hospital, immediately after they received the phone call about me. Fudge Foo, the person who accompanied me in the ambulance called my second aunt. She is my mother’s second sister, and is my favourite aunt.

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