Columns

My husband Aubrey’s hereditary ATTR amyloidosis journey is included in a forthcoming book titled “Rare Disease Drug Development: Clinical, Scientific, Patient, and Caregiver Perspectives.” He feels very touched that the editor saw fit to reach out to him. Emotional healing occurs when we can provide insight into a…

2021 has been a character-building year for me. I experienced challenges like never before, and I’m not just referring to the ones associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, I suffered the loss of my mother, my beloved pet dog, and my sister-in-law. Just when I thought it couldn’t…

I spent half the morning figuring out our plan for Christmas. In recent years, it’s been a tradition for the whole family — including pets and my children’s partners — to go away for the holidays. We would book a holiday home near the beach and spend a few days…

This is my 48th column since I began this providential opportunity as a writer at FAP News Today. To be given the platform to share my journey as a caregiver to a husband who is afflicted with hATTR amyloidosis is humbling and cathartic. Life as a caregiver has its…

Life experience plays an integral role in shaping our behavior and thinking. I have come a long way from being an unsettled 18-year-old to a wiser and more focused woman in her 50s. Looking back, I see how the ups and downs we face shape our individuality. We are…

New Zealand was largely able to avoid the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, until now. The contagious nature of the delta variant and the high number of cases have placed many people on edge here in Auckland, where my husband, Aubrey, and I reside. Aubrey is a patient with…

My husband, Aubrey, has begun watching cooking videos on YouTube to overcome an aversion to food and eating. We are both from Malaysia, where food and eating are central to everything. Food is such a big part of life there that when we greet others, we don’t ask them…

As we enter the second half of October, I’m not quite sure how the end of the year has arrived so quickly. Time flies while caregiving. I care for my husband, Aubrey, who has hereditary ATTR amyloidosis. Though he was diagnosed in 2013, his disease onset occurred much earlier.

To all my fellow caregivers, I want you to know that I understand what you are going through, and I am cheering you on. After eight years on this journey with my husband, Aubrey, it’s still challenging to come to terms with changes in his health. Since his diagnosis of…

I lost my mother in May. Even as I type those words, I have not fully come to terms with it, as I have yet to receive closure. She passed away in Malaysia while I was thousands of miles away in New Zealand. COVID-19 travel restrictions had prevented me…