Against The Wind: A Documentary Profiling the Struggles and Courage of Stroke Survivors
About the Director
Wayne Peng is an award-winning director from Taiwan. He has won various Best Director awards at film festivals around the world for his first documentary, Burning Dreams. For his work in television commercials, Wayne has been ranked among the top 14 most awarded directors in the world by The Gunn Report.
Against the Wind is Wayne’s latest documentary. The idea was conceived when Wayne met Janet Yeo, Founder and Chairman of the NASAM, and was deeply moved by the plight of stroke survivors. The film records, over a period of three years with painstaking honesty and heart, the agonising daily struggles of eight of these brave survivors. Their heartrending stories do not all have happy endings – at least not yet anyway – because stroke rehabilitation is a continuous, lifelong daily struggle. Some of these stroke survivors can only follow through with rehab at NASAM on a short-term basis, because of their limited financial means. But all who have found their way to NASAM, credit NASAM for giving them a ‘good go’.
From NASAM, they learnt rehabilitation techniques to give them and their families some hope. NASAM hopes that its enduring legacy would be to let stroke survivors and their families understand that stroke rehabilitation is available, effective and achievable. That through simple, daily exercises, stroke survivors can become functionally independent.
Against The Wind © PureFilms 2012. All Rights Reserved | For more information on Wayne Peng, please visit www.purefilms.com.tw
FORGET NOT
Muniady Portoraj | NASAM PJ | 9:55mins
Muniandy was only 48 years old when he was stricken with stroke in August 2005. He worked as an aircraft technician and was actively involved in contact sports – rugby and football before his stroke. He needed maximum assistance for functional activity and generally his balance in sitting / standing / walking was poor. There is a slight improvement in his functional activity after attending therapy and is able to walk with assistance. More fortunate than most, Muniandy has a wife to care for him. Still, for a once-active man who held two jobs, Muniandy struggles to regain use of his storke-paralysed limbs. He now exercises daily on his own at home as he as transport problems coming to NASAM Petaling Jaya.
KERINDUAN
Faraheza Mohd Helmi | NASAM PJ | 15:45 mins
Farah joined NASAM Petaling Jaya in April 2005 where she received physiotherapy and speech therapy treatments. She was stricken with stroke in November 2002 at the peak of her career as a conveyancing lawyer. She was 32 years of age then. There was some slight improvement since coming to NASAM. She needed moderate assistance for functional activity and was able to walk with assistance. She stopped coming to NASAM in 2007 because of transport problems. As her mum is not able to take care of her due to her old age, Farah was place in a nursing home in Klang, where she now resides with the elderly. She is now only able to communicate by writing and one of her favourite past time is still reading.
I BELIEVE
Catherine Sow | NASAM Ampang | 08:15 mins
Catherine was 19 years old and a students of accounting at UTAR when she was struck by stroke. She was on her way to sit for her exams when she fainted. She was then rushed to hospital and had an operation at a private hospital. She joined NASAM Ampang in 2007 when she was just 21 years old. Catherine had by then cme to terms with her stroke. As she was the eldest in a family of four and her parents are not wealthy, she had to stop therapy. After eight months in NASAM, she returned home and got a job in Klang. She hoped to continue studying and live a normal life. She passed her pre-driving evaluation for disabled drivers in 2011 and is now hoping to purchase a car. She is currently working and recently got engaged to her boyfriend.
DIGNITY
Sun Yew Lum | NASAM PJ | 11:55 mins
Sun now aged 80, was stricken with stroke in February 2006. He joined NASAM Petaling Jaya a few months later in June the same year and has since, been a regular face at NASAM. He could not sit up on the bed or chair without support and could not stand or walk, but gradually after attending therapy, he began to walk again with assistance although he was a bit slow and unsteady. He loves fishing before his stroke and his whole family would join him for all his fishing trips. He also loves meeting and socialising with new friends. One of his favourite past times is watching television especially the Chinese drama series and sports.
LIVELY
Isobel Lee | NASAM Johor | 10:50 mins
Isobel Lee is NASAM’s youngest stroe survivor. She came to NASAM Johor Bahru at a very young age. She was just 1+ and she is now 6 years old. She joined NASAM in 2008 and this is her 4th year with the Centre. Isobel suffers from congenital stroke and she as stricken with stroke in her mother’s womb. Her parents detected the stroke 6 months after her birth after observing that she was not using the limbs on one side of her body. When Isobel first joined, she was unable to walk but now she is able to walk, run and function like an able-bodied child. She was attends school and she still comes to NASAM for further therapy on improving functionality of her hands. Isobel has a condition known as dystonia where she is unable to control the movement of her hands, whether voluntary or involuntary. isobel has made significant strides in her recovery, to the point where she is now able to enjoy ballet and dancing classes. She is warm, very friendly and open with people and is very quick in grasping and learning new things.
OBLIVION
Phua Kia Seng | NASAM PJ | 03:55 mins
Phun now aged 53, was stricken with stroke in December 2008. He joined NASAM Petaling Jaya in May 2010. He worked as a general worker at a factory and was a heavy smoker (1 and half packets per day) for 30 years before his stroke. his hands function and muscle power on both his upper limbs were weak. After attending therapy for about six months, his upper limbs’ movement have since improved. He also suffered from a condition called aphasia, where his stroke erased his ability to connect words with objects. He now helps his wife in simple household chores like cooking rice, sweeping the floor and hanging up the laundry to dry.
RUNNING IN MY SLEEP
Lee Kin Shong | NASAM Ampang | 18:50 mins
Lee came to NASAM Ampang four months after his stroke in mid 2008. He was 30 years old and depressed about his condition. He was able to walk slowly with a walking aid but had a no function on his right upper limb. At home, he was dependent on his family members for assistance in almost all his self-care and daily activities. His wife had walked out on him and their three young daughters soon after his stroke. Fortunately, his caring sister helped to look after his daughters. Kin Shong soon improved and could walk without a walking aid, being able to get down on to the floor and play with his daughters at home. He gradually accepted the reality that he had a stroke and had to help himself. He became a more cheerful person with the support of the other stroke survivors and was soon always smiling and sharing jokes during therapy sessions. He was with NASAM for approximately two and a half years before leaving due to financial reasons. He is hoping to learn to drive and re-join NASAM when his financial situation improves. Currently he stays at home and takes care of his daughters.
MY NAME IS CHUA BEE BEE
Chua Bee Bee | NASAM PJ | 13:50 mins
During the 2 years prior to her major stroke in September 2006, Bee Bee was stricken with two mild stroke attacks. She has a history of hypertension. Residing in Terengganu then, there were not many opportunities for stroke rehabilitation apart from the once-a-week visit to the local district hospital for therapy. It was only 2 years later that her family decided to bring her down to Kuala Lumpur to explore the availability of stroke-specific rehabilitation facilities. After much searching and deliberation, they came to NASAM and she finally joined NASAM PJ in 2008.
She was with NASAM for nearly 2 years. Her 5 sons are her primary caregivers with Jim Lim, the 3rd eldest of 5 sons, putting on hold his tertiary education overseas to care for his mother. After much deliberation, Jim never resumed his studies & gave up his PR in Australia to join his family business in Terengganu as he felt that he was more needed here. His younger bro, Tau Tong has taken on this caregiving role for now and he too, has put his engineering career on hold to care full-time for his mother. Bee Bee came to NASAM in a depressed state & kept pretty much to herself. A fiercely independent woman, it was very difficult for her to accept her stroke condition.She had to re-learn ways on how to walk & to be functionally independent. She also had to work hard on her speech & memory skills with the therapists at NASAM.
Today, at 62 — Chua Bee Bee is able to smile although she still faces the challenge of motivating herself to exercise regularly. She now attends therapy at another facility in Puchong as it is nearer to home. She desires to come back to NASAM as her friends are here & She enjoys the camaraderie & fun environment that NASAM provides for the stroke survivors.