Amputee puts many to shame
Published on: Sunday, September 14, 2014
Kota Kinabalu: Despite diagnosed with Osteocarcoma, a cancerous tumour that weakens the bone, amputee Ahmad Nazri Hamzah, 24, has done what even many able Malaysians in Sabah have not - conquer Mount Kinabalu.He was only 14 when he knew he had cancer after collapsing while playing football with other schoolmates at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Secondary school in Kajang.But he had survived the battle and become an athlete representing the country's wheelchair basketball team as well as obtained a diploma in business studies from Shah Alam Polytechnic.
ADVERTISEMENT
During his free time he gives inspirational talks to others as a National Cancer Council Volunteer. He was part of the 19 Makna volunteers and staff who climbed Mount Kinabalu in the Council's "Klimb for Kancer" campaign on Sept 3 to 4 and was among 17 who reached Low's Peak, the highest point on the mountain. It was his second attempt, after failing the first by missing the cut off time by arriving late at Sayat-Sayat last year. "I was very young then and did not understand the gravity of having cancer. I thought it is disease which can be cured," he said."I was sent to Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and doctors suspected that I had OsteocarcomaÉthat I had some abnormal growth on my right knee, and referred me to Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia in Kubang Kerian in Kelantan," he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Ahmad Nazri said he had a total of 10 surgeries and in his seventh procedure in 2006 doctors were forced to amputate his right leg to prevent the cancer from spreading to his lungs. "My friends were surprised why I suddenly did not turn up for class.
ADVERTISEMENT
Only when the teachers told them that I had cancer, they started to offer me prayers and support," he said."I was indebted to my late father who took the trouble to take care of me, sending and taking me from hospitals. He was only a taxi driver and he still had to make ends meet raising all four of us," he said.Ahmad Nazri said he was then taken care of by one of his sisters after his father died. He returned to school in 2006 after doctors gave him the nod and repeated Form Four.By the time he completed his Form Five, Ahmad Nazri was offered to be part of the national wheelchair basketball team and trained for a year before he was sent to France in 2009 with the team to compete in the World Championships.He sustained some injury from the game and had to immediately undergo three more surgeries as the cancer had attacked and weakened his bones.After that he continued to pursue his studies at the Shah Alam Polytechnic, where he would some time take time off school to attend championships, while conducting talks on behalf of Makna at the institution.But his sporting career continued to blossom and represented numerous games including in the Myanmar Sea Games in 2013 and will be competing again at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea this month.He has obtained a permanent job as an athlete under the National Sports Council and is no longer too dependent on his sister to take care of him."Last year, Makna approached me and asked whether I wanted to climb Kinabalu under its Klimb for Kancer campaign to raise funds for cancer patients."I said yes. But did not manage to scale the peak. In fact I was disappointed as I was climbing like a lizard for being too dependent on the harness along the trail," he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
