Cycling for a cause: Borneo charity ride to help terminally ill children
'From what is observed here in Sabah, palliative care for children is not a subject many are aware of, and there isn't even a proper dedicated organisation or department that looks into this,' said a Sandakan-based orthopaedic surgeon from Selangor.
Dr Timothy Cheng, 37, who has been working in Sabah for the past 13 years, said that with this in mind, he felt the need to do something to not only raise awareness but also get things moving and actions underway.
With that, the idea of organising a cycling for charity event, to build a children's palliative care centre here in Kota Kinabalu, was born, he said.
This programme, named 'Program Sepeda Amal Borneo 2025', organised by the Malaysia Medical Association (MMA), will run from July 27 to Aug 1, to raise RM500,000 for the building of the centre.
'A total of 17 people, comprising Malaysians, Singaporeans, Americans and Macanese, are scheduled to participate in this 600km ride from Sandakan to Kota Kinabalu, while a charity dinner will ensue on Aug 1 at the Hilton Hotel here,' Dr Cheng said.
He hopes that with awareness raised and donations received, they can make this dream a reality.
At the moment, there is only a small team of non-governmental individuals who go for house and hospital visits, to educate parents and families on caring for their terminally ill children, as well as try to let the child have as much of a normal life as they can, he said.
Dr Cheng said palliative care for adults is quite well established, as they get more funding, and it has been around for quite some time, but it is not the same for palliative care for children.
'How do you tell and make the child understand that they will pass away any time? How do you prepare parents, their siblings, other family members, friends and teachers to approach this topic?' he said.
'How can we try to adapt and make them live as normally as possible until the time they are no longer here? This is what we want to try and tell the public, teach them and hopefully, help to gain more attention on this matter,' he said.
Dr Cheng said that with this cycling for charity programme, they also hope to indirectly bring attention to the condition of the infrastructure in Sabah.
He said it is a fact that Sabah gets less attention from the federal government in many senses, and more needs to be done to address all the issues faced in this large, beautiful state.
'We wish to highlight how difficult it is for many, especially those living in rural areas, to get medical treatment, go for official matters and do other things because some really do have to go the extra miles just to get from one place to another,' he said.
Dr Cheng hopes this coming cycle for the charity event will have support from the public, as well as lawmakers in the country.
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