I have written a book titled “Joy, Challenges and Hope”. I donated all proceeds of the sale of the book to two NGOs – MySkills Foundation and Good Shepherd Services who look after the needs of disadvantaged youth in Malaysia. Through MySkills Foundation we have sold more than 1000 copies of the book over the last six weeks and more will be available for sale during the book launch (see flyer above) on the 17th of September 2022.
There are two questions I get repeatedly asked about the book: Why did you write? What is in the book?
Writing has been a hobby and over the years I have got medical and non-medical articles published in magazines and newspapers. I wanted to move on to writing a book. The motivation and opportunity to write, occurred when I became ill in 2017. My illness and its treatment (about which I have written extensively in the book) was an adventure which I felt many would be interested to read. I felt that what I went through would help motivate others in similar predicaments. The writing was also a catharsis. As I wrote I realised that my illness was just one event in my life; that like many in my generation I had lived through interesting times and saw the evolution of many things – as an example, television was not available in Malaysia until I was about 8 years old and I did not hold a handphone until I was about 40; you could get 8 big durians for RM50 when I was a schoolboy. Even in my own field of medicine in general and cardiology in particular there have been paradigm shifts in disease management and the practice of medicine. I was a member of a generation that was a link between the current era and a time that was quickly fading into history – all these were worth recording especially for the next generation. I also wrote about my adventures and escapades growing up in a small town in old Malaya (Muar) then Malaysia, my school and college days, fun in medical school and my life as a doctor and my interactions with several of my patients – some of these have been hilarious. I also planned to fill the book with messages to empower and inspire the reader – to achieve the latter I convinced eight friends to tell inspiring stories of their lives – their stories are contained in chapter 21. I wanted it to be a fun book to read so I filled it with amusing real-life stories that I hoped the reader would enjoy. More than one early reader of the book has written to me to say that they “laughed until they cried” as they read the book. Several others have written or spoken to me to say that they found the book captivating because it told the story of their own lives.
With the advice of friends I titled the book “Joy, Challenges and Hope” as we believe that without hope and optimism, the twin drivers, none of us will be able to overcome the challenges that life throws at us. I hope readers will enjoy the book as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
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