Family in dire need of help

IPOH: A fall in the bathroom last September has turned 39-year-old Thong Wee Chong into an invalid. 

The incident had rendered the carpenter paralysed on the right side of his body. He has also lost the ability to speak. 

Hard life: Wee Chong trying his best to communicate with Tan at the family home in Ipoh. With them are Augustini and the couple’s daughters Joo Yen and Joo Ying.

Now, the bed-ridden Wee Chong can do nothing but only watch his wife and elderly parents suffer as they take care of him and his five children, aged between two and 13. 

“He had just finished his shower when he slipped and fell, hitting his head hard. The doctors could do nothing for him,” said Wee Chong’s wife, Augustini Tampubolom. 

“He had gone to help his brother-in-law in Kuala Lumpur at the time of the fall to earn more money to support us. Now, we have to support him instead,” said the 28-year-old.  

She was relating her plight to Ipoh Barat MCA chief Datuk Tan Chin Meng who visited the family at their home in Wing Onn Garden here yesterday. 

The Medan-born Augustini said she was so busy caring for her husband and children that she had no time to work. 

They are now depending on the meagre earnings of Wee Chong’s 69-year-old father, Chee Beng, who is also a carpenter. 

She said she had not had the opportunity to visit her sickly father in Medan for the past five years. 

Tan said those willing to help the family can send their donations to Thong Chee Beng and address it to Perak MCA, 90-92, Tingkat 1, Jalan Sultan Idris Shah, 30000, Ipoh, Perak. 

He added that those sending cheques should write them out in the name of Thong Chee Beng.