For a long time, DBS employee Mr Lim Koon Seng, 58, had big dreams of relocating to Australia with his family.
They finally embarked on their adventure after five years of planning.
Just one month after they settled down in Armidale, Koon Seng’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer.
To facilitate her treatment, their family decided to move back to Singapore.
Although they had to U-turn on their relocation plans, Koon Seng believes that the predicament unexpectedly opened new horizons for them.
Koon Seng’s wife, then a lecturer in Computer Science, first moved to Armidale, Australia in November 2016 after securing a job with a university.
Koon Seng and their children joined her a few months later in May 2017.
“We’d sold our house in Singapore, secured a year-long lease, bought furniture, and had enrolled our two children, aged four and two, into childcare,” said Koon Seng.
The couple got married in 1996, but only had their children in their 40s.
Image courtesy of DBS Bank
In June 2017, just a month after the family was reunited, they faced a curveball after his wife visited the doctor.
“The diagnosis: stage three breast cancer. Radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery — she needed them all,” shared Koon Seng in a post on LinkedIn.
To make matters worse, the nearest cancer treatment facility was in Melbourne, which was a three-and-a-half-hour flight away from Armidale.
Koon Seng detailed the hectic trips with their young children, all while pushing his ill wife in a wheelchair. He recalled:
I remember our first trip there — hastily stuffing our belongings into duffel bags, strapping those, and our bumbling toddler on a baby carrier across my body, our pre-schooler trailing behind, and pushing my wife on a wheelchair (her knees were giving her problems then) across crowded airports, planes and hospitals, for examinations and tests.
As each trip became more difficult, the couple decided to move back to Singapore where they promptly resumed her treatment.
The family returned to Singapore within a fortnight of the diagnosis.
Koon Seng now feels that returning was a blessing in disguise.
While his wife was undergoing cancer treatment in Singapore, she also participated in cancer support groups regularly, which added to her support system.
Now cancer-free, she continues to actively inspire others in these same groups.
Meanwhile, Koon Seng landed a new role at DBS in August 2018 after losing his job two months prior.
He is now one of the many DBS staff working on strengthening the bank’s technology resiliency.
In particular, Koon Seng uses generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate the bank’s processes and system changes.
Image courtesy of DBS Bank
At present, the family has eased into its “new normal”. While Koon Seng is responsible for helping their children prepare for school in the morning, his wife assists them with homework in the afternoon.
The couple’s daughter and son are now 11 years old and 8 years old respectively.
When asked if they’d consider rekindling the dream of moving to Australia now that his wife is well, Koon Seng said that it no longer matters as much.
“It was quite sad as we really wanted to move to Australia. When you apply for Australian PR, you have a timeline of five years to move over. We decided not to reapply as our five-year period had lapsed,” he told MS News.
“We felt it was fated: we were getting old, and my children were all going to pre-school. It no longer matters where we are based, I’m just thankful our family is whole and together.”
Also read: Cancer patient in S’pore creates hand cast mould with wife, passes away the next day
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Featured image courtesy of DBS Bank.
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