HE was looking ahead to a bright future, planning to work
part-time while studying for a business degree.
--CRYSTAL CHAN
And his parents had high hopes that he would soon be able to take
care of them.
Today, Jeremy Tan, 23, lies in a vegetative state in hospital, with
doctors giving him little chance of ever recovering.
He was two months from completing his national service (NS) when he
suffered permanent brain damage in a mystery fall, most likely from
his third-storey room, at the Seletar Camp nine months ago. (See
other report.) His parents have found it hard to come to terms with
the tragedy.
THREW AWAY PHOTOS
His mother, Madam Hor Hong Kiow, 45, hates to be reminded of what
her only son looked like before the incident.
So much so she threw away all the photographs of Jeremy in happier
times.
Madam Hor, a shop cashier, did not want to be interviewed, but her
husband, Mr Tan Kian Lee, spoke about her grief.
'In the first few days after Jeremy was hospitalised, my wife cried
as she looked at photos of our son when he was healthy,' he
said.
'After that, she could no longer bring herself to look at the
pictures so she threw almost all of them away.'
Mr Tan managed to find one picture of Jeremy and his sister Chia
Min in their childhood and keeps it in his wallet.
And these questions keeps buzzing in his mind: How did Jeremy fall?
Why did he have to become a vegetable?
There were no witnesses to the fall and Jeremy is in no condition
to talk.
He said in Mandarin: 'We know life must go on but we'll never have
peace of mind until we know what happened.
'We were hoping that our son could care for us after he finished
NS. But now, it's the other way around.'
The family's nightmare began at 7.30pm on 3 Aug last year.
Mr Tan, who is unemployed, was watching television with Chia Min,
17, when he got a call from the Singapore Armed Forces.
He was told that Jeremy had been found unconscious and bleeding
from his head in Seletar Camp.
COULDN'T STAND UP
Speaking to The New Paper in his three-room Jalan Dua flat, off Old
Airport Road, he recalled: 'I was so shocked I couldn't stand up
and my daughter had to support me.'
The family rushed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital and saw Jeremy, a
polytechnic graduate, lying in bed with tubes poking out of his
body.
A neurologist told the Tans he was in a vegetative state and would
need to be cared for the rest of his life.
'We cried our hearts out when we saw him like this.
'He was perfectly healthy, but after the fall, he's incapable of
doing anything,' said Mr Tan.
Before the tragedy, Jeremy used to jog and do standing broad jumps
every day.
Madam Hor became depressed and now suffers from insomnia.
Mr Tan said: 'Sometimes, she tells me to get a baby boy for her
because she considers that she has lost a son.
'I'm praying hard that nothing will happen to her because she's the
sole breadwinner.
'I won't know what to do if she loses her job.'
The family visits Jeremy every day, hoping for a miracle, although
doctors have told them he will not recover.
They wipe the sweat from his head and say encouraging words like:
'You'll get well soon.'
OPENS AND CLOSES EYES
But Jeremy, who can open and close his eyes, only stares at his
family.
Mr Tan said Jeremy hoped to sit for the Scholastic Assessment Test
and study for a business degree at the Singapore Management
University.
'He talked about working part-time to finance his education. He
also hoped to do some small business as he thought he would earn
more than a salaried worker.'
Mr Tan said his son, who has a business diploma from Temasek
Polytechnic, is single and has a cheerful personality.
Adding to their pain are unkind remarks from some people.
'One relative told me, 'You must have owed your son a lot in your
previous life. That's why you're repaying him now in his present
life,' ' Mr Tan said.
'One neighbour told me that I must have done some bad things, so my
son's tragedy is retribution.'
Chia Min, who is close to her brother, was affected by the tragedy
and failed her O levels last year. Mr Tan said she did not have the
heart to study hard after what happened.
Said Mr Tan: 'Only one person is physically hurt but three people
are emotionally hit.'