Public Service announcement
The aim is to
provide surgery subsidies for patients of NF2.
PETALING JAYA: Being deaf and practically blind has not deterred
Yvonne Foong from aiming to set up a foundation to help people stricken with
the rare genetic condition she is suffering from.
The 31-year-old
author and motivational speaker is currently seeking to attract sponsors and
raise funds for the foundation, which she will set up in the United States in
collaboration with the KECK School of Medicine at the University of Southern
California.
The foundation aims
to provide subsidies of up to 65% of surgery costs for patients of
Neurofinromatosis Type 2 (NF2), the disease she suffers from. The aid will be
available to NF2 patients anywhere in the world.
Foong was diagnosed
with NF2 when she was 16 and has since undergone 20 neurosurgeries.
At the age of 19, she wrote a book titled I’m Not Sick, Just a Bit
Unwell to raise funds for her treatment in the US.
“I managed to raise
RM230,000 within 10 months,” she said. “So I have since continued to raise
funds that way.”
She’ll be speaking
today at the Federal Academy of Ballet in Petaling Jaya, where she used to be a
student. She told FMT she had completed writing her second book and would
promote it during the talk.
“I want to show that
I have lived an active life, a life with no regrets,” she said.
“If I don’t tell my
life story, many people won’t understand my situation. Many think I was born
strong but that’s not true. I was weak before too and I have suffered. But I
learnt to be strong eventually.”
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