Testimony on Samuel

It was two weeks after Chinese New Year 2008 and our Bandung trip with Samuel & family that the devil struck and caused Samuel to be hospitalised.
Samuel and his brothers were the first to board the aircraft as there was no reservation of seats of our Air Asia trip to Bandung, then. He was okay during the trip and had lots of fun there, food and shopping. There was an occasion that Samuel had run back and forth to help me to retrieve the golf balls at the practice green. As I am a total stranger to golf, I was using Samuel’s golf clubs lofting the balls, uncontrollably much beyond the targeted spot. Poor Samuel had to endure my amateurish skills and must have silently shared my first disastrous and embarrassing golf swings with his brothers. Even on our flight back to KL, Samuel cheerfully ate his food on board and even took his packet of food sticks with some chocolate/colourful dip.
On the same day when the news came that Samuel was hospitalised in SJMC, my wife, Evelyn and I went and visited him in the evening. He was sitting cross legged on his bed chatting with us. We joked with him that he could watch his favourite football team, Manchester United on TV, which was hung from the ceiling facing the hospital bed. At the same time, Samuel was also busy with his computer games on his hand held toy/gadget. Together with Bro Frank and Sis Josephine, we mentioned to Samuel that he will be alright and it will be just a few days of observation.
To our dismay, the few days turned out to be many agonizing months, treatment after treatment and at one time it has turned for the worst but thank God, He answers our prayers and Samuel was finally held by the Lord Jesus Christ. All glory to Him.
During observation and after some blood tests were done, Samuel was diagnosed as suffering from lack of blood platelets and there was a need for blood transfusion. Both his brothers, Jeng Chee and Jeng Han donated to replenish the blood bank and Samuel still has to stay back for further observation. However, the count of his blood platelets have still not increased and more blood transfusion was done and there was a time when Sis Jo joked with Samuel that he will be having some of my blood too since I had also donated to the blood bank that afternoon. Despite a few days of blood transfusion, the blood count of Samuel’s was still not improving and instead started to drop. It was then, worry started to creep in.
A few days later, Samuel was diagnosed to be suffering from Aplastic Anemia, a rare disease which is a malfunctioning of the production of red blood cells of the bone marrow. The Specialist Doctor attending to Samuel, Dr Lin and suggested that Samuel’s condition needed some Horse’s serum to be injected into his blood stream to activate the production of the red blood cells.
Though Samuel was on the drip and with bags of blood and saline hanging beside his bed, he was able to chat with visitors and still in his jovial and bubbly self. We shared and joked with Samuel that with the Horse’ serum in his body, he will, in future be able to run as fast as horses. All who were present laughed and no one knew that the treatment had turned out be totally beyond imagination.
His condition started to change after the Horse’s serum was administered into his body. Samuel’s body temperature started to increase and he was complaining of a headache. He started to slam his hands to his head and those around him then comforted him and said that was a normal reaction and would not last long. Samuel too was wriggling in bed and kicked his blankets away from his body, due to the changes of his body temperature. The metal railings beside the hospital bed were pulled up to prevent him from falling over the edge of the bed. He complained of discomfort and back pains. Sis Jo was constantly by his side comforting him. Samuel also complained that he could not see well and had difficulty with his vision and could hardly open his eyes. All the lights in his room were either switched off or lowly dimmed as he said that they were glaring and hurting his eyes.
The next day came and Samuel’s condition was no better and the doctor’s reaction was it would probably take a little longer for the serum to work. There was still more blood transfusion and more medication and despite all the treatments, the blood count has not improved. The serum treatment went on for five days and each day we were around him and prayed for him and yet there was little improvement.
At the end of the 5 Day Serum treatment as recommended by Dr Lin, upon checking with the blood test results, Samuel was discharged from SJMC.
We thought Samuel’s ordeal was all over but two days later, we heard that he was readmitted back to SJMC due to complications. We found out that Samuel was still unwell and still has a nagging headache. At this stage, Samuel was very quiet and did not wish to speak to anyone.
Samuel continued his stay in the hospital and was under observation but his condition continued to deteriorate so badly to a stage when he was not responding to Bro Frank and Sis Jo. Samuel has fallen into a coma.
All of us began to worry over Samuel’s condition.
On the same evening of his readmission, Samuel was wheeled into the ICU and his condition had to be closely monitored by an assigned nurse outside his room. Samuel was all wired up with all sorts of monitoring devices, a tube through his nostril, and a bag for his urine and it was indeed a very pitiful sight. Despite that Sis Jo had the wisdom and plugged in a pair of ear phones to Samuel’s ears playing Praise and Worship songs from a portable CD player.
Praise the Lord, luckily Bro Frank and Sis Jo are blessed with three other grown up children and they are constantly taking turns to help out in watching Samuel on a 24/7 basis.
This section of the hospital was very strict with visitors, allowing a maximum of two persons and for brief visit. Samuel did not respond to me and Evelyn when we visited him at this stage but we continued to pray for him. One of the days, in the ICU ward, Bro AK visited Samuel and with his stern looks , stroke Samuel’s hair and said with a loving voice to the motionless, Samuel…...”The Lord is with you, you will be alright…”
Most of the Paul Cell Group together with Pastor SS Loh and Sis Vivienne have rallied behind Bro Frank and Sis Jo and continuously supported them by visiting them (and Samuel, of course!) nightly. We prayed for healing and continued to encourage them until late hours of the night.
Samuel was still motionless and was not responding but we never gave up praying. Family friends and church members continued to showing their support to the family and Samuel. Our church leaders have announced for prayers for Samuel and the intercessors prayed unceasingly for the Lord’s healing power to bestow upon Samuel.
There was a huge GET WELL card from Samuel’s class sent in with words of encouragement written by his classmates and teachers. Without regaining consciousness, Samuel was not aware of the card but nevertheless, it must have been most encouraging for the family.
A breakthrough came in once faithful day, ……days after Samuel was transferred out from the ICU to the normal wad, Jeng Chee said that Samuel has started move one of his fingers. All of us were so encouraged by the news and when Evelyn and I visited him, Samuel’s eyes were opened but could not speak or move any parts of his body. He could only communicate by blinking of his eyes. His sister, Yoke Mei instructed him to respond to us by the number of blinks of his eyes, once of “a Yes” and twice for “a No.” Hallelujah, we knew that from these signs there is hope and his brain was undamaged, Praise the Lord.
Samuel condition began to gradually improve but there was a need to draw blood from his weak body for tests. Both his arms began to hurt and the Doctors have to perform an operation to place a catheter just below his collar bone to draw blood regularly. The operation went well and the painful needles piercing sessions into Samuel’s arms were avoided.
After a………days, Samuel was discharged from SJMC but he was unable to move his limbs, he was literally confined to his bed. Despite his condition, Bro Frank and family knew that Samuel has to recuperate at home for a speedy recovery.
Samuel was very weak and was confined in bed with curtains of his room drawn most of the times. Each night, Pastor Loh and Sister Vivienne will visit him, pray and anoint him with olive oil. There have been occasions that Samuel uttered some foul words. All of us believed that he was under some kind of spiritual attacks. There were constant prayers for Samuel and the Church and Cell group continued to uphold Samuel in prayers.
Over a week later, Samuel’s condition improved and was able to sit on a wheel chair. His brothers helped him and assisted him around the house. His legs were still weak but he could move with his right hand was able to wheel himself around the house with assistance.
He was constantly encouraged to stand up and finally one day, he managed to stand up with assistance however, all his weight was balanced on his right leg. It was obvious that his sensory system has yet to be fully functional ignoring his left limbs. Samuel could only control with his right hand and right leg. He is gradually returning to his normal self at this stage and it was a real joy to see his recovery since his long periods in the hospital.
Physiotherapy was introduced to Samuel together with Foot massage and slowly but surely, Samuel was able to stand up by himself, limping around the house. At times, he was too eager to move around and fell but was always encouraged by his family members to continue with his progress.
Samuel’s condition continues to improve but there was still the catheter dangling from the outside of his chest. There were suggestions to have it removed but I was told that the Doctors at SJMC had advised against it as they still need to draw blood from Samuel to monitor his platelet’s count.
On the night of 8th August 2008, our Cell group had gathered in my house to witness the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Not long after we have settled in front of the TV, watching the displays at the Bird’s Nest Stadium, Dr Liu received a call from Frank that Samuel has a fever and was shivering. We stopped watching, prayed and subsequently dismissed our gathering. Dr Liu then arranged for each member for a time slot and carried out immediately a 24 Hour prayer chain. Hallelujah, Praise the Lord, Samuel‘s attack was not serious and he was not adversely affected by the fever.
The fever came and left on several other occasions and one day, it became serious and Samuel was admitted, this time to the University Hospital (UMMC). There were no beds for him but by God’s grace, the staff managed to place him in the Children’s ward. Samuel was under observation for a few days and there was an occasion, Pastor J, Pastor Ron and Pastor Lawrence visited him together early one evening. Pastor J prayed over him and amongst his other prayers, he prayed specifically for the malfunction of bone marrow. I sensed that Samuel is healed.
On 10th September 2008, Samuel’s Catheter was removed in UMMC after a short and successful operation. Praise God, all went well and I took a photo of Samuel without the Catheter after the operation and immediately blogged in that evening. You can see the joy on his face from the photo (http://paulcellgroup.blogspot.com/2008/09/samuels-catheter-removed.html) The main culprit is finally gone and the various bouts of fever was as the result of infection at the catheter and with the removal, Samuel is finally on the road to full recovery.

Bro Frank had also mentioned that Dr Lin, who had earlier written off Samuel said "now I see the power of prayers", after witnesing Samuel's recovery in SJMC

Matthew 19:26- "With God, all things are possible"