(Father's Day Exclusive) Going the extra mile

PETALING JAYA: If there ever is an award for best father, Carney Quek would nominate his father Quek Cham Sheng for it.
"My mom was diagnosed stage four breast cancer or better known as advanced breast cancer in 2008 and my father went all out to get the best treatment possible for her," Carney said, adding that his mother is on the road to recovery now.
"Thank you dad for the sacrifice you made in ensuring mom is still with us now and your undying love and care you have showered on us, we love you," the younger Quek said.
Commenting on this, Quek's wife, Chang Chu San, said she is grateful to have a supportive soul mate in Quek who had sacrificed so much for her ... to the point where she did not need to worry about family matters during her treatment. This allowed her to fully concentrate on her cancer treatment.
Quek, a teacher, was undeterred when he received the bad news in 2008, instead he went the extra mile by doing research online, asking around for the best medicine and doctors to help his wife.
On top of that, Quek also went knocking on the doors of the Education Ministry and Health Ministry in Putrajaya almost on a daily basis after work, seeking appointments with different officers, filling up different forms and submitting various emails just to get the ministries' approval for subsidiies on certain medications recommended by the doctor.
Quek's hard work and determination finally paid off as he finally got the approvals needed and his wife slowly recovered.
"No doubt that it is our responsibilities as both husband and father to care for the wife when she is unwell and the children but it is also our responsibility to do the best we can for them so that there would not be any regrets later on.
"Who knows, later we might regret why we did not take the extra step at that time so it is better to grab hold of the opportunity that comes to us than feel sorry later on," said Quek, 54, at his USJ home recently.
Quek revealed that although he was both sad and worried about his wife's condition back then, he did not show it in front of her or their children.
Quek knew very well that there was no point for him to feel down as it might affect his wife's recovery so he decided to put aside those negative emotions and concentrate on taking good care of his wife and their two children.