Every one of us is born with a desire to be great. No one will wake up in the morning and say to himself, “Let me see how I can make a mess out of my life today.” Greatness may mean different things to different people. For some, greatness will mean being like Mother Teresa, abandoning the comforts in life and going to the slums and help sick people. For some, Warren Buffet is considered great, being the richest man on earth and donating billions to charity. In my opinion, many people ascribe greatness to financial prosperity. Likewise, I subscribe to the same view, but I believe in having wealth for a purpose. And it is fulfilling our life purpose that makes people great. And all of us can be great, because all of us have a purpose to fulfill in life.
My journey with wealth and discovering my purpose is as such. I was born into a middle income family, living in a comfortable apartment and with both my parents having secure jobs. I would say I am fortunate, never having to worry about the lack of money. However, when I was at 8 years old, I had kidney problems and have to go for regular checkups and take medications. Even though the government subsidized for my treatments to a large extent till I am 21 years old, at the back of my mind was always this worry, “Will I earn enough money to support myself and my medical expenses when I am independent from my parents?” My ambition was to be a doctor, due to my experience with illnesses, because I wanted to heal people like myself and at the same time, earn a good income to support myself, my family, and the medical expenses. However, my grades did not qualify me to study Medicine in Singapore. In the end, I pursued an education in Business and Finance, a choice which I never regretted till this day.
Pursuing a career path in business was not a random decision. It was the year 2001, that my health condition took a drastic decline and had to be hospitalized for one month, the longest stay I had in hospital. I was also contemplating about the future path I was meant to undertake after my unsuccessful application to become a medical doctor. During the one month stay, I witnessed the plight of kidney patients, having to do through painful dialysis and many other surgical procedures. Some of them became blind, and some had their legs amputated, as a result of uncontrolled diabetes. Besides suffering physically, many suffered emotionally also, being in constant depression and worrying about their future or being a burden to their family. On top of all these sufferings, they also had to concern themselves with the heavy medical bills for their treatments. Many of the patients come from low income families and had absolutely no means to pay for the expensive dialysis fees of $2000 a month. They barely make a thousand dollars a month! The purpose for my life then dawned unto me, “I had always wanted to heal the sick, and since I cannot be a medical doctor myself, I can help relieve these patients’ financial burdens and provide quality treatments for them.” So I had a dream of building a medical foundation, providing affordable and quality medical treatments to patients. This way, I can fulfill my dream of being a doctor and help many patients relieve their financial worries. With that dream in mind, I started my training in Business and Finance and pursued relentlessly for the knowledge of acquiring wealth in the marketplace, as the wealth will be the means to an end, which is to help the sick patients afford quality medical treatments and overcome their illnesses.
In 2005, my kidneys failed completely and I had to start dialysis. It was a firsthand experience with the painful treatment 3 times a week and for 4 hours each session. Sometimes after the dialysis, my body will feel drained and I just needed to rest. It was also the year which I had to sit for my final examinations in university. Thankfully, I managed to pass all my exams and even got an Honours degree. However, after 4 years of dialysis, my heart was getting weaker. Other problems started to crop up, such as biochemistry imbalance in my blood. I had infections. I was suffering and had to go into hospital quite frequently. My doctor recommended a kidney transplant urgently, because if my heart gets weaker and weaker, even a transplant will not be an option for me. My younger brother, Caleb, agreed to donate his kidney to me! I was overjoyed and touched by his act of kindness and love. I knew of other patients whose family members were not willing to donate their kidneys to them. Caleb shared that he could not imagine himself go through what I had suffered these 20 years, and he always wanted to help me, but did not know how to. Now that there is this opportunity to do something for me, he knew it was the right thing to do and thus he decided to go through the operation to give me one of his kidneys. When I heard his sharing, I was deeply touched and I felt his unconditional love for me as a brother. Our family and friends also was inspired by Caleb’s act of love.
Today, I am a strong young man, full of zest in life once again. Having been through the ordeals, I am even more convicted and passionate about my calling, to create wealth and bless the poor and needy people.
That to me is the real meaning of wealth.
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