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To hell and back: A burns survivor recalls his ordeal (The Straits Times, Sun, pg10)
18 Jan 2009
By: Jamie Ee Wen Wei
Nine years ago, Mr Freddy Neo (right), 53, went through what he now calls the “most painful experience of my life”.
Then a supervisor at a manufacturing plant, he was injured by a burst of steam from a machine.
“I didn’t even know I was burned until I saw the top layer of my skin peeling off. I wasn’t in much pain then because I was in a state of shock,” he recalled.
He was warded at the SGH Burns Centre.
He remembers little about his first week there as he was heavily sedated, except for the “unbearable pain” when he drifted in and out of consciousness.
When he regained consciousness a week later, he found out that the doctors had done a skin graft on him. About 60 per cent of his body had first- and second-degree burns.
“I was all bandaged up – my hands, legs and face. I looked like a mummy. I wasn’t sure if I could make it,” said Mr Neo, who is married to a 53-year-old bank officer. They have two children aged 21 and 17.
His family’s support and his determination to live pulled him through the ordeal.
His family kept a 24-hour watch outside the intensive care unit to wait for news of his condition. They were not allowed to visit him initially for fear of infecting his wounds.
Mr Neo said he could not recognise himself when the bandages were removed for the first time, two weeks after the accident.
“My face was all purplish and red. I kept asking the doctor: Will this go away?”
His biggest fear, though, was in losing the ability to use his hands and legs, which had stiffened after the injuries.
For the next two weeks, he did physiotherapy daily to regain the movement of his limbs.
His medical bill came up to more than $100,000.
Adjusting back to normal life was difficult after he was discharged a month later.
For the first few months, he could barely sleep as his wounds were very itchy. “You can’t scratch because the skin is very thin, so I used a ruler to slap the itchy parts instead.”
Determined to resume normal activities quickly, he went back to work about four months after the accident. He was given an office job and time off for follow-up visits to the hospital. He has since gone back to doing field work.
He started to share his experiences with other burn victims at the hospital.
“When they saw me getting better, they were really encouraged. I also drew a lot of strength from our interactions. I wanted to get better quickly, so that I could show them my improvements,” said Mr Neo, who today still has visible scars on his arms and legs.
In 2004, he and Major Ang Ming Chuang, an SQ 006 crash survivor whom he met during his stay at Singapore General Hospital, worked with the hospital to start a formal burns support group.
With support from ExxonMobil, they organised annual gatherings for victims and family members.
Every three months, the members would also try to meet for coffee to share their experiences. There are 15 active members today.
Summing up his experience, Mr Neo said: “To get burned is a bad thing, but if you look at it positively, I recovered well and I was able to use my experience to help others.”
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