Charity fund raising - Voices of Harmony 2009

There is a charity fund raising concert for Singapore Buddhist Free Clinic to be held on 27 Nov, Friday, at 8pm. Details of the concert are right below the email. It is a 2-hour show and the tickets are priced at $100, $50 and $30, excluding booking fee. It is for a good cause and a "concert not to be missed", and the tickets can be purchased at sistic.com.

Please do not ignore this email and help to circulate this around. Voices of Harmony 2009 is a concert organised by Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery (KMSPKS) for Singapore Buddhist Free Clinic (SBFC). This concert is a charity fund raising concert for SBFC.

SBFC's objective is to provide free medical services to the sick and needy, so as to relieve their suffering on illness and to help them lead a healthier and happier life, regardless of nationality, race and religion. All charges for elderly patients aged 60 years and above are waived. SBFC has provided 7,421,424 free consultations from 1999-2008.

Currently SBFC operates 6 branches. They are situated at densely populated areas across the island at Geylang west, Tanjong Pagar, Redhill, Delta, Ang Mo Kio and Jurong East, to provide caring medical and rehabilitative services to patients. With the generous support from fellow Buddhists and general public, SBFC will always be able to strive and provide quality charitable medical services to lower and middle echelons of our people.

We really need your support for this event, the response of the tickets are not very promising. You can support us by purchasing the concert tickets and join us at the concert. Tickets can be purchased online at www.sistic.com.sg , at any Sistic authorised agents or at Sistic hotline +65 6348 5555.

"Strive not for oneself contentment, but relief for the commons "

"不为自己求安乐，但愿众生得离苦"

Highlights of the night include performances by Singapore Chinese Orchestra, China Disabled Arts Troupe, David Tao & more. For more information on the concert you can refer to the attachment

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive. Our prime purpose in this life is to help others.

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Concert details (from sistic website) :

Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery (KMSPKS) is organising a fundraising concert - “Voices of Harmony 2009”– on Friday, 27 November 2009, 8pm at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The net proceeds raised will be donated to Singapore Buddhist Free Clinic (SBFC).

SBFC is a charitable organization established in 1969 by local Buddhists. Its objective is to provide free medical services to the sick and needy regardless of their race and religion, to relieve their suffering and to assist them to lead a more independent and healthier life.

SBFC now has six (6) clinics with its Head Office cum clinic at No 48 Lorong 23 Geylang. SBFC has a team of qualified physicians and experienced staff providing outpatient Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) consultation including acupuncture as well as prescriptions of Chinese medicine.

Statistics compilation has shown that from November 1969 to December 2008, SBFC has administered 17,421,057 free consultations. On average, 700 patients visit SBFC per day. Each clinic has about 3 physicians and 8 clinic attendants. In total, there are 32 full-time staff and 47 part-time staff for the 6 clinics. The minimum cost needed to run SBFC is S$3 million a year. Every cent raised will help in meeting their operating costs in serving the community.

China Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe, My Dream, will be performing a few items. The troupe was founded in 1987, which bears the dreams of people with disabilities and creates a special art that delights audiences presented by artists with physical disabilities, hearing and visual impairments. Their performance is recognized and held in high acclaim wherever it is shared.

It is a concert not to be missed, join us and be dazzled with the performances!

Run for hope

I had forgotten to mention that I am not pursuing my quest to 'run for hope'.

I was looking forward to the run and I am disappointed that other than my willing spirits, my flesh and bones are a letdown. They could not take the pounding, especially my knees.

The last exercise was not even strenous for a normal healthy person of my age, but with my current condition, it was a different story.

So, now, I have wisened up, know when I am beaten and am throwing in the towel, that's right, even before the race starts.

I had considered the odds and must admit that they are definitely not in my favour.

Probably I can consider taking part in the walk next time. I had missed this year's walk, some weeks back, that was organised by the Breast Cancer Foundation. I didn't know what I was doing that I didn't even know there was one until friend told me.

Run for hope - getting fit??

I probably overdid it on Saturday morning. The muscles on both legs from the hips down to the feet hurt. Not all the muscles hurt at the same time, actually, for some it depends on how I moved.

So, today I stayed home to nurse my aching legs.

So much for training to get fit for the 4km run, looks like the quest is getting more and more unachievable.

I couldn't remember if I mentioned this before. Some months back, I met some cancer survivors and we found that those who had gone through chemo have weak legs.

We can't squat - we either sit on the floor or on low stool. Looks like the chemo messed up our joints, especially our knees. It is especially bad during the movements of squatting and standing up. Sitting on the floor with the legs bent in certain position would require much effort in getting into the upright position.

Getting off the bus after a long journey and I had to half-hop when alighting. And getting out of a car after a long journey is no breeze either.

More than a year after I stopped chemo, I could even feel pain when I applied light pressure just above the knees. I walked and I practised taiji, but I don't seemed to feel any improvement in the legs.

I don't ever recall any of the oncos telling us that chemos will weaken our legs. Probably they don't know about that either.

Run for hope - getting fit (day 2)

This morning, I had my 2nd one with me on my second day of getting fit for the 4km run. To and fro on that stretch of park connector, we should have covered slightly more than 1 km.

It was a combination of jog and walk for me, actually more walk than jog. I tried to lift my legs higher and put more spring into it so that I could cover more distance with each stride. It was quite an effort doing that as my legs felt lethargic.

After some time, I noticed that with each pounding step, my innards felt shaken at the same time.

When we got home, I was so exhausted, I wanted to sleep. My daughter commented that after a run, we were supposed to feel energized, but not me, I was just deadbeat. I noticed the muscles near my hips hurt. I am glad I managed to cover that distance today.

At this moment, the 4km run for hope looks like a mission impossible for me. Still, I hope to practise for a few more days to see if there is any improvement before I really call it quits.

Run for Hope 2009

Run for Hope (RFH) is an charity event to raise funds for cancer research. This year's RFH will be held on 22 Nov, Sunday, at the East Coast Park. The closing date is 16 Oct. There are two categories, the 4km and the 10km.

I must have bitten by the running (jog and walk rather) bug, that for the last couple of days, I have been contemplating taking part in the 4km. I broached the subject to my kids and the general opinion was that I may not survive the 4km run or jog, so they objected. So much for support! All along, it was the mum who cautioned, objected, persuaded, now, it looks like the roles have been reversed. Honestly, I gave them more leeway than they are allowing me for activities like this.

Well, mum rules and I intend to find out if I am up to it. So, this morning, I put on tees, shorts and running shoes, did some stretching of my hamstrings and calf muscles, and headed downstairs. I don't think I did them right but some stretching is still better than no stretching at all, I guess.

I jogged round the void deck. Two laps later and I was huffing. I pushed myself a bit and I managed to last all of five minutes. Then, walking and jogging a bit more, I squeezed another 3 minutes out of my endurance. 8 minutes - my first jog/walk after so many years (I had lost count of the years).

After cooling off and catching my breath, I was raring to go for more, but common sense prevailed. Don't push the cancer and chemo wrecked, and totally out of condition body too much or the kids will have reasons to say "we told you so". Classic case of the spirits willing, but the body has a totally different opinion.

Funny though, when I jogged barefooted in the house, it seemed so easy, but with shoes on, it was so much harder. I guessed I now understand why some runners prefer to compete barefooted.

I noticed too, that my lymphedemic right arm felt a little uncomfortable, probably because the pounding movements of the jog exacerbated the gravitational pull.

I shall see how my muscles feel tomorrow. Anyway, I still have up till 16 Oct to test my physical endurance before I commit.