Jointly reported by:
Khoo Xin Yi Sr1ScA
Sofea Chang Hui Zhou Sr1ComB
Benedict Koo Xiang Yu Sr3B
On 23rd July 2022, Kuen Cheng High School Counseling Department invited Dr. Hue Hwa Ching, a 2001 Kuen Cheng graduate and the author of “This Time, Don’t Call Me Doctor” 《这时，别叫我医生》, to give a talk on the importance of perseverance in life.
Dr. Hue started off by talking about her current reflections on her life, posing questions like “What if I had children?” and “What if I didn’t choose to study medicine?”, and introducing the common saying that “life has no ‘what if’s so you should make the right decisions”. She however, didn’t believe in this saying, and shared the story of her life to prove this point.
Dr. Hue was a classic straight-A student in primary and secondary school, and often represented the school in participating in various competitions, however, she struggled with self-esteem issues for much of her student life. She often felt different from the other kids and felt inferior about her appearance.
Dr. Hue’s School Life
In secondary school, these self-esteem issues were due to her slightly larger body shape compared to other girls. Academically, Dr. Hue wanted to get good results to gain acknowledgement from her parents and teachers. She was unable to accept her own appearance but still had to appear on stage multiple times for competitions and speeches. These factors caused her to constantly teeter between positive and negative emotions.
During her Sr3, Dr. Hue’s criticisms towards Kuen Cheng’s rigid framework were published in newspapers, and she herself began receiving criticism from the school community. Dr. Hue began refusing to go to school, causing her results to decline heavily, to the point that she experienced complete panic during her SUEC exams. She ended up getting 3B’s in SUEC, and remorsefully, it was her first time not receiving straight As.
Dr. Hue’s first exposure to mental illnesses was when her mother was diagnosed with one. She later explained how she went to Beijing, China for medical studies. It was around her second year in university when Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) started spreading.
In her fourth year of university, Dr. Hue started to have suicidal thoughts. It was the year in which she took up a pair of scissors and was mere inches from ending her life, but instead, she cut her hair, and watched it fall to the floor. She stated that it was also the first time she cried out to her parents, which changed her life for the better since her parents began to understand her more.
After graduation, Dr. Hue became a medical intern back in Malaysia. She even described the different types of patients she met in her time as a healthcare worker.
Dr. Hue’s Tumour Scar & Hospital Life
At 28 years old, Dr. Hue’s life hit rock bottom. She found out she had a tumour, which disrupted her life in all possible ways. All of us face hardships in life, but Dr. Hue reminded us to never dismiss and silence our pain just because other people seem to have it worse. When we are in pain, we can choose to escape momentarily in order to first calm ourselves and face our problems courageously later on.
Running a marathon was a pivotal moment in Dr. Hue’s life. She realised her life was crumbling, and the only way out was to run forward. Half way through the marathon, the agony she had to endure made her question her choice to join the marathon. Yet Dr. Hue never stopped running, she pushed through sweat and tears, ultimately completing the run.
Dr. Hue Running a Marathon