DANCING HER WAY TO SUCCESS
NOTHING COULD DAMPEN WAI KUEN’S SPIRIT
The white Nissan 130Y was hanging precariously over the railings beside the road she was traveling on, at two o’clock in the morning of December 21, 1987. The driver, a young lady in her late 20s, was found unconscious by the side of the road when passersby stopped by to help her.
She was immediately sent to the hospital, and had several stitches on the back of her skull. With a broken elbow and collarbone, Wai Kuen was as good as a goner. Her rib bone had punctured the lungs, which later developed into bronchitic pneumonia. Her life was hanging on the balance between life and death.
Preparations were already on the way for her funeral. Family members were told that she would not survive, given the conditions she was in.
According to the doctors who attended to her, she was suffering from spinal injury at Thoracic T4 and T11, which meant that she could never dance anymore. Just hours before that tragic accident that left her paralysed, Wai Kuen was doing her usual rehearsals for Christmas performances.
Trained formally as a dancing teacher in Stella Mann School of Dancing in London (1980-83), the 45-year-old, who runs her own dance school in Kajang said that she could hardly recall the details of the accident. “I think I had a total blackout,” she said.
For nearly six months, she was hospitalized. The first two weeks were spent at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, before being moved to Tung Shin Hospital, and subsequently to a Rehabilitation hospital in Perth. “I was only informed about my permanent paralysis after one week in the hospital,” she said, recalling what the doctor told her.
It took her over a year before she could come to terms with her paralysis. “No one, except a doctor in Perth, told me that I could still teach dancing with some help from other able bodied persons.”
That was the time when friends who were genuinely concerned about her came forward. People like Ng Siew Fong, the principal of Harmony Academy of Dancing in Petaling Jaya and Farah Sulaiman of Sayang Dancers offered their hands of kindness. “They helped me a great deal with the dancing school that I had established before the accident,” she said. “People like Farah, for example, managed to get me to perform for RTM as a disabled dancer. No questions were asked.”
What’s more important for this gutsy woman entrepreneur is that people see her as being capable of doing what an able-bodied person can do. “We may be disabled bodily, but our minds are still active. I do not want to be seen as a disabled person, but as a performer.”
Moral support from friends, family members and her students is what makes the difference for her. Three of her students who are now under her tutelage are a great help to her teaching sessions.
With an average of 30 students at any one time at the Jenequin Dance Centre in Jalan Semenyih, Wai Khuen still teaches ballet, modern, jazz and European national folklore.
“I used to feel depressed that I can no longer dance and jump as I used to do,” she said. “But, today, I realize that with good communication, it’s possible to teach with the help of good student tutors, like Tee Yee Leng, Le Jin and Rebecca Leong.”
Whether she is successful by the measure of wealth is not important. By comparison with other disabled persons, she is reasonably successful as an entrepreneur who owns and runs her own dance school.
She has won several awards, including First Place in the Asia Pacific Dance Sports Competition in 1999, and subsequently entered the semi-finals in the World Dance Sports Competition in the following year. She also represented Malaysia as the team leader for the World Dance Sports Competition in 2002.
For those who want to start a new business, Wai Khuen’s advice is: “Earnestly desire to excel in the field you are venturing into. Manage well and overcome whatever setbacks that come along the way.”
Her life has never been a bed of roses. “Setbacks do happen, but instead of becoming disappointed and grumpy, I have learnt to be an overcomer,” she said. “You must believe in yourself, that you are able to overcome any obstacles in life. However tough the situation in life may be, you must move forward and win!”
Her inspiration came from a Malaysian nurse who is also a paraplegia, Jenny Auyong who was a permanent resident in Perth back in 1988. “She was active in sports, independent and driving around in her car. It makes a lot of difference having a good outlook in life,” she said.
Most importantly, she added, in life and business, one must be prepared to embrace changes if things do not work out the way you expected it.
She truly exemplified the saying, “When tough times come, it is the tough that gets going.”
END
NOTHING COULD DAMPEN WAI KUEN’S SPIRIT
The white Nissan 130Y was hanging precariously over the railings beside the road she was traveling on, at two o’clock in the morning of December 21, 1987. The driver, a young lady in her late 20s, was found unconscious by the side of the road when passersby stopped by to help her.
She was immediately sent to the hospital, and had several stitches on the back of her skull. With a broken elbow and collarbone, Wai Kuen was as good as a goner. Her rib bone had punctured the lungs, which later developed into bronchitic pneumonia. Her life was hanging on the balance between life and death.
Preparations were already on the way for her funeral. Family members were told that she would not survive, given the conditions she was in.
According to the doctors who attended to her, she was suffering from spinal injury at Thoracic T4 and T11, which meant that she could never dance anymore. Just hours before that tragic accident that left her paralysed, Wai Kuen was doing her usual rehearsals for Christmas performances.
Trained formally as a dancing teacher in Stella Mann School of Dancing in London (1980-83), the 45-year-old, who runs her own dance school in Kajang said that she could hardly recall the details of the accident. “I think I had a total blackout,” she said.
For nearly six months, she was hospitalized. The first two weeks were spent at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, before being moved to Tung Shin Hospital, and subsequently to a Rehabilitation hospital in Perth. “I was only informed about my permanent paralysis after one week in the hospital,” she said, recalling what the doctor told her.
It took her over a year before she could come to terms with her paralysis. “No one, except a doctor in Perth, told me that I could still teach dancing with some help from other able bodied persons.”
That was the time when friends who were genuinely concerned about her came forward. People like Ng Siew Fong, the principal of Harmony Academy of Dancing in Petaling Jaya and Farah Sulaiman of Sayang Dancers offered their hands of kindness. “They helped me a great deal with the dancing school that I had established before the accident,” she said. “People like Farah, for example, managed to get me to perform for RTM as a disabled dancer. No questions were asked.”
What’s more important for this gutsy woman entrepreneur is that people see her as being capable of doing what an able-bodied person can do. “We may be disabled bodily, but our minds are still active. I do not want to be seen as a disabled person, but as a performer.”
Moral support from friends, family members and her students is what makes the difference for her. Three of her students who are now under her tutelage are a great help to her teaching sessions.
With an average of 30 students at any one time at the Jenequin Dance Centre in Jalan Semenyih, Wai Khuen still teaches ballet, modern, jazz and European national folklore.
“I used to feel depressed that I can no longer dance and jump as I used to do,” she said. “But, today, I realize that with good communication, it’s possible to teach with the help of good student tutors, like Tee Yee Leng, Le Jin and Rebecca Leong.”
Whether she is successful by the measure of wealth is not important. By comparison with other disabled persons, she is reasonably successful as an entrepreneur who owns and runs her own dance school.
She has won several awards, including First Place in the Asia Pacific Dance Sports Competition in 1999, and subsequently entered the semi-finals in the World Dance Sports Competition in the following year. She also represented Malaysia as the team leader for the World Dance Sports Competition in 2002.
For those who want to start a new business, Wai Khuen’s advice is: “Earnestly desire to excel in the field you are venturing into. Manage well and overcome whatever setbacks that come along the way.”
Her life has never been a bed of roses. “Setbacks do happen, but instead of becoming disappointed and grumpy, I have learnt to be an overcomer,” she said. “You must believe in yourself, that you are able to overcome any obstacles in life. However tough the situation in life may be, you must move forward and win!”
Her inspiration came from a Malaysian nurse who is also a paraplegia, Jenny Auyong who was a permanent resident in Perth back in 1988. “She was active in sports, independent and driving around in her car. It makes a lot of difference having a good outlook in life,” she said.
Most importantly, she added, in life and business, one must be prepared to embrace changes if things do not work out the way you expected it.
She truly exemplified the saying, “When tough times come, it is the tough that gets going.”
END
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