Hundreds gathered to raise awareness and support life after stroke in Singapore and Malaysia

14 Oct 2019 Healthcare Stroke awareness

WSO Stroke Support Organisations in Singapore and Malaysia led inspiring events to raise awareness and celebrate life after stroke. The events also raised the flag for the World Stroke Campaign virtual relay Asia route #DontBeTheOne

Stepping out for Stroke in Singapore

Singapore National Stroke Association (SNSA) held its fourth Stepping out for Stroke event on Saturday 12th October. The event had over 800 registered participants including nearly 100 stroke survivors and carers.

Stepping out for Stroke is SNSA’s annual fundraising event, where it encourages participation from people affected by stroke, medical professionals, students and the wider community in whatever way they choose; walking, running, cycling, and in wheelchairs and pushchairs. The Mayor of Central Singapore CDC, Denise Phua was the guest of honour and talked passionately about the need to prevent avoidable strokes and to support life after stroke.

Aanandha Sharurajah, who had a stroke in 2012 and is a member of the SNSA Executive Committee said, 'Stepping out for Stroke was a really important day for me, as it was a day my whole family was involved in. We all wore our purple t-shirts, showing that we were standing for stroke survivors and greater awareness of this illness, and it was the largest number of people I've witnessed so far standing for stroke'.

The event was an opportunity to mobilise the community to raise funds, increase awareness of stroke and engage in physical activity. The day also included the launch of the FAST Heroes 995 Programme in Singapore, which is a collaboration between SNSA, Boehinger Ingelheim’s Angels Initiative and the World Stroke Organization

https://worldstrokeorganization.blogspot.com/2019/07/be-stroke-superhero-be-fast.html. The programme is a kindergarten-level education initiative aimed at equipping children with knowledge about what stroke looks like and what to do in an emergency.

The event also joined the World Stroke Campaign virtual relay Asia Route, getting behind the #DontBeTheOne 2019 Campaign theme.

Ng Wai May, President of SNSA said 'Our signature Stepping out for Stroke community event was held on 12th October 2019. The event was very successful with over 800 participants and we have raised over $60,000 so that we can offer free programmes for stroke survivors and caregivers'.

For more information about SNSA visit:

www.snsa.org.sg | https://www.facebook.com/SNSA.SG

Stroke Games 2019 – paving the way for more champions

Stroke Games 2019 kicked off on Saturday 19th October with a vibrant opening ceremony, with flags from Malaysia, the National Stroke Association of Malaysia (NASAM), World Stroke Organization #DontBeTheOne and the nine NASAM contingents from across Malaysia. The event was declared open by YABhg Tun Jeanne Abdullah, Patron of the Malaysian Paralympic Council. Before its arrival into the stadium, the Stroke Games torch was passed on by a relay of stroke champions who ran, walked or wheelchaired it along the way.

'How do you inspire someone who is down and out after a debilitating stroke?' asked Janet Yeo, Founder Chairperson of NASAM, in her opening speech. 'How do you inspire that person to climb mountains, to aim high and excel? To aspire to be a champion and to believe there is life after stroke?'

'When you are inside a stroke damaged body, believe me the last thing on your mind is sports or competitiveness,' said Yeo, a stroke survivor herself. 'We at NASAM want to reach out and mend such broken spirits and one of the ways is through sports. For a whole year we carefully crafted and designed sporting events and then transferred them into our daily rehab regime before our first Games in 2017. Suddenly rehab was no longer a boring word. It was not a passive, repetitive routine'.

Yeo added that the Stroke Games 2019 is bigger and will generate more champions who will inspire others to achieve greater recovery. 'The Games is NASAM’s contribution to the stroke community around the world. We wish that this fighting spirit of a stroke champion is ignited into every person affected by a stroke no matter where they are’.

The Games involved more than 800 participants from NASAM’s nine clubs across Malaysia as well as volunteers from corporations, universities and hospitals. There were 25 events including: 50m and 300m walk/run; hand cycle; modified weight lifting and seated volleyball. The youngest athlete was Lee Yong Xian aged 16, who represented Kuantan in the 300m for men. The oldest was Mariya Pillay aged 81, representing Malacca in hand cycle for women.

NASAM Petaling Jaya and Malacca emerged as champions with a tie, with Perak finishing runner-up.