Caring teacher gives others new lease of life

SINGAPORE - She was a devoted teacher and kind soul in life and, in death, she has given others a new lease of life with her donated organs.

Laura Lau, 46, a teacher from Pasir Ris Secondary School, died on Sunday after a fall last month. She was in a coma for two weeks.

Her husband, Eric Koh, 56, said her liver, kidneys and corneas had been donated to people who needed them.

"She loved her students, and she cared deeply for others. I believe this is what she would do as well," he told Lianhe Wanbao.

On Monday, it was reported that Ms Lau climbed up a ladder to inspect a light after renovations in their home when she fell and hit her head.

Before the accident, Mr Koh said his wife noticed that the renovation workers were eating only vegetables and rice for dinner.

So she bought them some roast chicken and duck.

Mr Koh said that she was a devoted teacher who did not lose her passion for teaching even after 20 years in the job.

She would stay up late at night to prepare presentations, and used her day off to check out the route for the school's cross-country run, which she was organising, he said.

While she was unconscious, more than 100 people visited her every day, Wanbao said.

"She never gave up on any student. One of her students, who came to pay her respects, said that my wife was the only teacher who believed in her, after all the other teachers had given up," Mr Koh said.

He said that the students' stories of how she helped them have ameliorated his grief: "It's like getting to know her all over again."

Mr Koh, also a teacher, said she was a loving wife who took walks with him every day because of his heart condition.

"We did everything together, now there is only me left," he said.

Ms Lau also leaves a son and a daughter.

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