Part of each other shared for ever

Like most sisters, Tiny and Fenny Sio share many things. They fit into the same-sized clothes and shoes. They share toiletries and facial products. They have similar tastes in Hong Kong drama serials and Hollywood blockbusters like the recent space drama Gravity.

But, five months ago, the sisters took sharing to a new level.

Fenny, 30, the younger sibling, donated one of her kidneys to Tiny, who is five years older.

Today, both sisters are healthy. Along with Tiny's eight-year-old daughter Charlotte, they will take part in this year's OCBC Cycle Singapore event to raise awareness of, and money for, kidney transplants.

Tiny, 35, an administrative assistant in her husband's photography company, knows just how lucky she is. Both of her kidneys had severely deteriorated in the course of two years.

Had her sister not volunteered to donate one of her organs, she faced an uncertain future with four-hour dialysis sessions three times a week for the rest of her life.

The average waiting time for a kidney transplant in Singapore is nine years, with more than 400 patients in a queue on a medical register. There are more patients than there are kidneys available and between 15 and 20 people die here each year while waiting for a transplant.

When Tiny first found out that she needed a kidney transplant two years ago, her husband Alex Siew, 33, father Suleman, 66, mother Ivanna, 61, Fenny and younger brother Jackson Robin, 27, all volunteered to donate a kidney.

Recalling how she felt, Tiny said: "If I was able to get a new kidney, I would have been happy. But it's not something you can force. "I was speechless and very touched. I know this kind of support doesn't happen in all families."

After tests, it was found that Fenny, a prisons officer who is single, was the most suitable candidate. Naturally, when it was time to make a decision, she had many conflicting emotions.

For the eight months leading up to the operation, she mulled over the decision at length and quietly convinced herself that she was making the right choice.

"There was a lot of fear and hesitation, a lot of niggling stuff, like worms eating me up on the inside," said Fenny. "Initially, I tried to ask myself if I felt that it was my duty to save my sister. I wondered what if my other kidney fails?

"Even now, when I think about it, my hands become clammy," added Fenny, as tears welled up in her eyes.

Sensing her sister's uneasiness, Tiny, seated across the table, reached out to offer a comforting hand.

But in the end, the thought of seeing her sister go through constant dialysis was enough to convince Fenny to go for surgery.

Said Fenny : "I wanted to see her healthy. I could not imagine seeing her in needles, going through the dialysis process.

"The image was disturbing, because the blood vessels become swollen and bruised. I know my sister is very vain. She would have been heartbroken to see her skin like that.

"Also, if my niece saw her mum going through this, she would have been very sad."

Fenny has to refrain from participating in high-impact sports, like her favourite wakeboarding. She has also given up on one item on her bucket list - skiing in the Swiss Alps.

But, while there are some things that have to be sacrificed, there are also benefits. Adding to their obvious emotional attachment, the sisters now share a heightened biological bond.

Said Tiny: "Recently, we keep teasing each other because it's like we have a sort of telepathy - one day she was moody at work, and for no reason, I was moody too.

"I told her, maybe it's because a small part of you is in me now."

A new heart, a new start

Harols Wee has been to "hell" and back. Four times, to be precise.

The catering manager, 52, cheated death after four bouts of major heart surgery in 12 years had kept him alive.

Doctors had to intervene to save his life three times, in 2001, 2009 and 2011, with major heart surgery on each occasion.

The first operation was to repair a heart valve.

The second came after a heart attack, when surgeons had to implant a pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat.

The third came in 2011, when his heart was functioning at less than 15 per cent capacity. Surgeons implanted an artificial mechanical pump into his failing heart, while he awaited a transplant.

Finally, he was one of only four patients to have had a heart transplant in Singapore last year, when there were 20 others on the waiting list for donor hearts.

Said Wee, who received a new heart in February last year: "I feel like I went to hell a few times and then came out alive.

"It has been very emotional and very physical in terms of pain and inconvenience. It's been very challenging."

Wee was only 35 when he was first diagnosed with an enlarged heart, a type of heart disorder. Years of excessive smoking and heavy drinking, he said, finally took its toll.

At the time, he spent long hours running a chain of restaurants, karaoke bars and cafes.

He would also consume up to two bottles of spirits and smoke four packs of cigarettes every night.

Today, Wee, who regrets his decadent lifestyle, has given up those vices and will ride in the 5km category of the OCBC Cycle Singapore in support of SingHealth Transplant's TRUEfund and to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation for heart and other transplants.

Said Wee, who lives with his 76-year-old mother and 20-year-old daughter in an HDB apartment in Tampines: "I paid a high price to learn a lesson.

"Regretting my past won't help me but now I look forward to spending more time with my family and doing more charity and volunteer work."

Finding his way in the world

With both arms outstretched, Dylan Owens mutters the words "Zombie, zombie, zombie", as he slowly shuffles his feet forward, mimicking the fictional undead creature.

His playful exuberance is natural for a six-year-old. But, more importantly, it is also his way of making light of his awkward gait.

Given a choice, Dylan would choose walking like a zombie rather than the life he was accustomed to.

Born in Singapore with spastic diplegia - a form of cerebral palsy which restricted his ability to move his legs - Dylan, whose parents are British, used to spend most of his waking hours in a wheelchair.

Walking was only possible with the help of crutches.

That all changed in June last year.

During a four-hour operation in Missouri, United States, doctors severed abnormal nerves alongside the normal ones in his spinal cord. Finally, Dylan was able to walk, unassisted.

He chirped: "Now, I can try to go anywhere and I don't need my sticks.

"I can go fast on my bike and I'm not scared any more."

The surgery cost $120,000 and, with physiotherapy, Dylan stands a chance of learning to run in the next few years.

It was through many fund-raising activities, including last year's OCBC Cycle Singapore, that the Owens family was able to come up with the money for the operation.

So, to show his gratitude, Dylan is participating again in the OCBC event this year to raise awareness for others in a similar position.

While the Tanglin Trust School pupil took part in the 150m tricycle ride last year, the increased use of his legs after the operation will enable him to test himself over the 5km ride this time.

Said his father, Graham, 43, the head of research at the Singapore Institute of Directors: "He just loves riding his bike and this year he wanted to challenge himself to go further.

"I don't know if we can go that far, but we will do as much as we can."

To prepare for the ride, Dylan has upgraded from a tricycle to a two-wheeled bike with training wheels and cycles three to four times a week along the river at Robertson Quay, where he lives.

Said his mother, Paula, a teacher: "He just takes it all in his stride. He worries about the little things, like getting a cut on his finger, but, for the bigger things like going for his operation, he's okay."

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