Circuit breaker period is a rough ride. Businesses are affected, some lost their jobs along the way, and livelihoods of people are taken away in an instant.
While the Government has provided a support package to give $800 a month for people who lost their jobs due to COVID-19, some of us are still struggling to make end’s meet.
While this isn’t a battle of who has it worse, some people really do have it worse than others.
Despite their current situation, these people still showed up every day to hustle for a living.
And that, is the true definition of grit and tenacity.
PHV Driver Who Needs Dialysis Continues to Drive up to 12 Hours a Day Despite 60% Drop in Income
Meet Andrew, a PHV driver. Just like any other driver, the number of passengers he can take in a day has reduced drastically.
His income had gone down by 60% due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To make ends meet, Andrew has to drive 8-12 hours every day.
However, unlike other drivers, he has kidney failure. As a result, he has to undergo hemodialysis, otherwise in his own words, “hooked to a machine”, 4-5 hours per session.
He has been doing it for the past six years, three times a week, just to survive.
Andrew claims that so much time has been wasted due to his kidney failure.
To add on, he has been living from paycheck to paycheck, struggling to pay his weekly bills. Every week is a race against time to earn enough to cover his expenses. The future is not even a concern for him to begin with.
However, Andrew doesn’t grumble about it. He puts on a smile whenever he speaks.
“Must make customer happy lah,” he says, while he shares about his life story to his passenger.
“I Want To Drive Until I Am Bedridden”
Vishal Pendharkar posted a Facebook post on last Saturday (16 May), sharing Andrew’s personal life story with his permission.
According to him, Andrew was his Ryde driver and had reluctantly shared his story when he realised that Pendharkar had a background in biomedical.
Andrew told him that there are times where he had hypotension and headache, which causes him to be in a bad mood. This caused customers to immediately complain about him.
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While you might expect Andrew to drive for the sake of earning a living, he actually loves driving.
He has been driving for over thirty years with school buses, trucks, vans, taxi, both Grab and Ryde, and with Gojek as well. He even mentioned that he is currently a Gojek fan.
He understands that dialysis may not be good for his kidneys and he might one day succumb to his illness.
However, he still pushes on and continues driving. With a passion for his job, Andrew wants to drive until he is bedridden.
He told Pendharkar that he will be fighting his illness as much as he can, for he is not afraid of death.
The only thing he is afraid of is lying bedridden on the hospital bed.
If that isn’t inspiring, I don’t know what else will make you cry.
Andrew is an exemplary example of someone who values his life and never fails to live it to the fullest, doing what he love.
His “never say die” attitude and his passion for life strives as a reminder to all of us to continue hustling, even when we are struggling with our current situation.
Here’s the post that shows that not having bubble tea isn’t the end of the world after all:
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