Personal: The Greatest Gift

Since birth, my lovely daughter (Aida Solehah – born 23/03/01) was diagnosed as Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita (AMC). Arthrogryposis is a term describing the presence of a muscle disorder that causes multiple joint contractures at birth. A contracture is a limitation in the range of motion of a joint.
In her case, most of the joints (hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, feet & knees) are affected. The contractures are accompanied by muscle weakness, which limits her movements. She started walking only at the age of five (before that only buttock shuffle).
AMC is relatively rare, occurring (according to literature) approximately (minimum) one in 3,000 births or (maximum) one in 500,000 births.
She was referred to several government hospitals & being attended by numbers of different specialists/doctors & therapists. So far she went through four (one more coming on 8th. April 2009) surgery. As a result, she is getting better day by day.
Now she is in Year 2 at Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Uda, Alor Star. Her cognitive development is normal, but not her physical aspect (motor skills).
Bring her up was challenging (still challenging). It made me (my wife too): (1) more thankful to Allah (2) more matured & passioned; (3) appreciate (thankful) for all the helps, caring & attention from a lots of individuals (surgeons, doctors, nurses, therapists, colleagues, teachers, friends, family members and many more) – I’ll try to write it later.

On the other hand, we also experienced upset feelings (just a few) especially from those who did not understand our problems – I’ll write about that too.

Anyway, having her (Aida Solehah) in the family is the GREATEST GIFT from God.

Catatan:

To my late father (Cikgu Mat Pedu): handling your cucu (Aida Solehah) has improved my perceptions about family, friendship & life in general.