Zero to Hero – Noel (The Iron Man)

Heyoo everyone! You know something?! Stroke is Singapore’s fourth leading cause of death, comprising 10–12% of all deaths 1.
Its prevalence is estimated at 3.65% for adults > 50 years of age. Approximately three-quarters of strokes are
ischemic (restriction in blood supply to tissues, causing a shortage of oxygen and glucose to keep tissue alive) in nature and one-quarter are hemorrhagic. Stroke is the largest cause of long-term physical disability
in Singapore and with a rapidly aging population, the burden of stroke is expected to increase exponentially in the none
too distant future, posing challenges to the healthcare system and society.

Anyway, how was the story of our Wonder-woman? Inspiring eh?! Such an awesome lady.
This time we gonna read about a man with titanium in his head, the Ironman. He literally has titanium in him (will illustrate it soon). His name is Noel Peter Xavier … In short, we call him Noel.

Let us look at Noel’s life in the past. Noel had 2 elder sisters and he was the only golden boy in the family. He was
living a “heaven” lot of good life as a pampered child. He then did his O-level in then Henderson Secondary school.
But unfortunately, he did not really do well there and opt out, mainly cause of his family issues. Especially the problem between his parents. He did part-time as a waiter in a banquet and a disc-jockey.  In short, he became a party machine and a kickstarter for dance floors in functions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dancing in an event

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work Life

Noel’s first official job at age 20, as an Air traffic controller in the Airforce. Airforce eh.. coooolll. He when through 9 months course for
it which got him to become an instructor for helicopter pilot simulator. He learned many skills from the course and also learned how to fly an
“Super Puma” helicopter. WoW!! He then became an expert in maneuvering it when it is facing tail-roto failure, where the tail of the helicopter
breaks up and starts spinning at 360 degrees during a fight or accident.

 

 

 

 

 

He slowly got so used to it and started to fly it by ‘feel’.
In there, he was a sergeant for 6 years. It was a fun experience there as he always got invited by other pilots for some high-end events or “chill-out” in an expensive
bar/pub. After which despite good money, future pay raise and a future promotion he decided to try other fields of occupation.

He was out of air-force and found an interesting job at ICA (Immigration & Checkpoints Authority of Singapore) at Woodlands checkpoint as an Immigration officer.
He was supposed to do the screening of passports and passengers on arrival and departure, participation in operations against smugglers,
looking out for terrorist, investigations, and conducting of raids against illegal immigrants. As mentioned by him it was an enlightening experience
for him as he met a lot of interesting cases, especially a case where he caught a Pakistan

 

i immigrant for forgery…experience..SHARP!

 

He was then by the given a letter of recognition by the director of immigration on 26 June 1999. It was
a proud moment for him after working there for 4 years. He then decided to resign from this job because of the shift hours (which was tiring and boring for him)and wanted a more stable job.

 

 

 

 

Lastly, he managed to find a more stable job in Beverly Hills of Singapore, where most of the high-end leaders of Singapore are living, as a condominium manager.
With all the experiences he got and the leadership qualities, he sustained well in that job. But little did he knew that he was coming to an end of his full-time career for the moment (will explain the reason soon). After being there for about 6 years Noel decided to take a break and relax by doing odd jobs for pocket money.

That was when the climax of his life happened.

Climax
It was May 13, 2013, where Noel was walking outside golden mile after a Thailand Water Festival aka Songkran Water Festival.
It was mother’s day, and his mother was waiting for him eagerly at home after cooking a sumptuous meal of biryani(South Asian mixed rice dish).

When suddenly, his left arm sway vigorously, he started to vomit out liquid which was in green and in seconds his left side of the body was left with no balance.
He immediately sat on a parapet beside him. And in a fast moment, he lost consciousness. Luckily a kind soul/souls called for an ambulance where he was brought to
SGH(Singapore General Hospital). In the hospital, the doctors immediately did an MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging) scan on him and found out that he had a blood clot
in the size of a golf ball in the right hemisphere of the brain near his frontal lobe (near to the front of the brain). They immediately decided for an operation
where they tried to vacuum the clot to diffuse it. But it failed and caused the clot to grow even bigger. Meanwhile, his Mum received a call at around 12.55pm
and told about Noel’s negative incident and his stay admission in SGH. Immediately she and other family members including the relatives went down to the hospital.

Back in ICU, everyone had a particular tag above their head, and Noel’s tag mentioned “DIEING IN LIEU”. That is severe. After that, the doctors went
in for a second operation where the doctor told his family that this time the surgery to remove the clot may lead to permanent disability or even death, but they had to take the risk as his life was at stake. After about 6.5 hours of the operation, where his
right side of the skull was removed for further surgery where it was successful. A 3rd operation was done to add a titanium skull in replacement of the
removed right side skull(now you know why ironman).

 

 

 

 

 

Before stitching titanium skull in the head

 

 

 

 

 

After stitching titanium skull in the head

 

After which he was in 65 days of coma and slowly started to regain his consciousness but left with a severe Short Term Memory loss and a stroke.
That was the time he needed his mother to remind him of almost everything including the death of his close ones. OUCH!!

The Come-Back
Noel was discharged from SGH and was transferred to Bright Vision Rehabilitation Centre at Hougang. He was in a bad state then, bed-ridden, head slanted and
constantly drooling from the left side of his mouth where he will be manually transferred to a wheelchair. That was the time he really cried!
Thinking about the high life he had and the state he was in. Not knowing if he will go back to that life or at least to walk. On top of that, his father said to him
“What is the use of your left limbs? Now you can’t work right?! Cut and throw them away!!”. Imagine being down in life and vulnerable, hearing discouraging words will
discourage anyone further from getting up in life again. It was heart wrecking for Noel! But.. he never gave up! He did exercises during rehabilitation and managed
to regain a bit of strength. As he was visualizing always, with the strength he regained, he managed to get himself on a tripod stand and start walking!!

He did not stop there, he pursued his rehabilitation further at SPD (Serving People with Disabilities). After his “contract” with SPD’s rehabilitation has ended continued to strive further and applied rehabilitation at APEX Singapore at Bukit Merah rehabilitation centre and is still continuing to improve himself. That is the way IRONMAN!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, not only in rehabilitation for his recovery, he too achieved study award from Mr. Tan Chuan Jin, Minister of Social and Family Services for a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) course he took
and graduating with a certificate from it. He is now planning to take up Masters in NLP. Not only that, he aspires to be a motivational speaker and a life coach too.

WOW! All the best Xavier. A man who when through many challenges and is still standing strong. A true “Ironman” indeed.

He wishes to be a role model to all people with disability for a second life and a better future. And will like to also tell everyone to “Persevere and never, ever give up!”