In the past few months, 23-year-old SMRT bus captain Jayrius Ong has been getting hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok where he shares snippets of his dream job.
In one video, he recounted how two passengers got into a “staring contest”, while another showed how moving the emergency hammer even a little bit out of place resulted in an incessant beeping noise throughout the bus.
Then, on 31 March, the ‘ordinary’ bus captain dropped a bombshell on his audience — he suffers from end-stage kidney failure and urgently needs a donor.
Beyond the humour and night-time drives, Jayrius has been juggling weekly dialysis sessions and the job he loves.
Jayrius’ curiosity for Singapore’s public transport system began when he was merely five years old.
On his 21st birthday, he immediately went to sign up for a bus captain role with a public operator in Singapore.
The process included a routine medical check, which Jayrius went through.
Things took a turn for the worse when a clinic staff member called him with an urgent tone, asking him to return.
After another test turned up some very bad signs, they told him to immediately head to a hospital’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) department.
There, doctors gave him the bad news — he had end-stage kidney failure. And so, Jayrius spent his 21st birthday in a hospital.
“[I was] mostly numb, mostly in denial. I didn’t really believe much about what I was going through,” said Jayrius, who then thought that it may have even been a misdiagnosis.
The reality of the situation finally sank in for Jayrius when the doctor said he needed to go on dialysis.
For two days each week, he has to get his blood quite literally cleaned by a machine.
At 7am every Tuesday and Saturday, Jayrius has his blood drawn out via a catheter in his chest and into a machine that removes extra fluids and cleans waste from his blood.
It then pumps his filtered blood back into his body, with the process taking four hours.
“You always feel tired after a dialysis session,” he told MS News after one such session, looking like the very picture of exhaustion.
Sometimes, he would get violent cramps in his legs if too much fluid was drawn out.
“Mostly I was very down, I didn’t really want to continue living,” shared Jayrius.
But there was a light at the end of the tunnel, as he would eventually secure a job that he always had a passion for.
When SMRT agreed to hire him as a bus captain, Jayrius described feeling “ecstatic”.
“It was after many, many months of trying to secure employment in a job that I really wanted to do,” he said.
Jayrius now usually works the PM shift, tapping in at Woodlands Bus Interchange to get his bus.
He then performs a routine check on both the inside and outside, before he’s on the road and serving passengers.
Jayrius works just as long as his healthy colleagues, and drives for roughly nine and a half hours each day.
By the time he gets off work, it’s already 1am, so he gets a ride home from the Worker’s Transport (WT) buses.
Jayrius also told MS News that he was able to connect with his colleagues despite the age differences, and sees them as mentors.
These colleagues, and also his employer, have given him the support to keep going.
Jayrius explained that he works as a part-timer, in which he works four days a week.
The schedule ensures he gets enough rest after his two weekly dialysis sessions.
“SMRT really supported me all the way through my journey [through] my passion while I focus on my health outside my work,” he told MS News.
Jayrius also credited the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) for arranging a counsellor for him, who helped him realise there were many things worth living for.
By sharing his story on TikTok, Jaryrius hopes to give back and uplift others.
“I just don’t want others to feel alone in this journey,” he said.
Other than mental and physical challenges, people with kidney disease struggle with getting employment. He felt that many employers wrongly perceive such patients as being unable to work.
Jayrius himself had unsuccessful stints with other bus operators and had initially been rejected by SMRT on his first application.
Despite all that, he still got his dream job of bus captain, which he hoped would inspire other patients.
Jayrius told MS News that he is hoping for a transplant by the third quarter of 2026, due to the chest catheter having risks of infections.
Once, he got so sick from an infection that he shivered nonstop during dialysis and ultimately required surgery to switch to a new catheter.
If Jayrius doesn’t get the transplant urgently, he will have to get a permanent fistula for dialysis instead.
Though several people have come forward saying that they are interested to be donors, a transplant has yet to be confirmed.
“A transplant would mean everything. I can feel like I’m having my entire normal life back,” Jayrius said.
For now, the 23-year-old bus captain simply gives his all at his job.
Even his struggling kidneys, the exhaustion of routine dialysis, and the health risks he faces can’t stop Jayrius from living life to the fullest.
“Serving the public is really enjoyable. Connecting people to places and people to people — I just like the sense of giving back to the nation,” he said.
I want people to see me as a normal human being. I may have a condition, but I can still do whatever I want to do.
Also read: 2 S’porean men share lifelong struggle & quiet resilience living with rare bleeding disorder
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image by MS News.