BY: Michelle Liew
“My love for her will not fade and nothing is a burden to me”, said Kharudin Hamzah who had to commute from work to home every afternoon to ensure his wife’s needs were taken care of.
Khairudin, 58, takes care of his wife, Hasmah Mohd Idrus, 55, who has been partially paralyzed for the past three years and his 33 -year-old stepson who has learning difficulties.
Hasmah, who previously ran a nasi lemak stall, had a stroke and paralysis of the right side, besides having high blood pressure and diabetes.
“The last sentence my wife said to me was ‘abang’ before her body became limp. She underwent surgery to remove a blood clot in her head and was in a coma for two weeks, but now she is disabled and her speech is not as smooth as before.
“However, all that did not destroy my love for her. I will continue to take care of her no matter how difficult our lives are because when she was healthy, we were together and when she was sick I did not want to leave her,” he said.
Khairudin, who broke his right leg after a motorcycle accident in Bukit Berapit in August last year, said he would feed and drink, bathe and change his wife’s disposable diapers every day.
“I take a wage as a carpenter and work in the village, so I don’t work every day. But when I go out to work, I go home at noon to feed my wife.
“The surgery to insert iron in my broken leg was postponed due to the current pandemic situation. If you follow, the leg is not very strong, but I am also brave for the sake of my family, now I am a carpenter for light work,” he said, adding that his income was uncertain, around RM700 a month.
He receives milk and disposable diapers every three months from Baitumal, apart from the Social Welfare Department (JKM) of RM300 a month.
Meanwhile, Khairudin said that the family was among the less affluent residents in the Belanja area who were often assisted through financial assistance and food boxes.
