BANGI, 4 November 2019 – Inflammation of the spinal cord attack at the end of her fourth year left Nurul Wahida Khalid’s spirits crushed and unable to continue her studies.

However, with the support of her family, lecturers and friends from Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM), she was able to get back up and continued on.

It all started on August 2017, when Nurul Wahida, 25, woke up to an acute back pain that left her unable to get up from her bed.

On the third day, it grew worse; half of her body was paralysed.

“Only Allah knew how I felt at that time. I was taken to the PPUKM emergency unit, as I was at Kolej Tun Dr. Ismail at that time. After follow-up examinations by the doctors, it was confirmed that I had spinal arteriovenous malformation, which is the inflammation of the spinal cord,” she explained.

Due to her illness, she stated that she had to defer her studies for one year to undergo surgeries, treatments and physiotherapies.

“After that incident, I was feeling down and blue. However, I tried to gain back my strength as I only have a year left of medical school,” she said.

To continue her studies, she met with the Deputy Dean of Faculty of Medicine to ask of his opinion.

“Alhamdulilah, the Deputy Dean encouraged me to continue with my studies. It took me some time to adjust with my current physical situation.”

“After awhile, I was able to adapt and live with the changes that came with being paralysed. Furthermore, my lecturers and doctors gave me a lot of leeway. With their help, I was able to complete my studies.”

“I spent a year in a dorm located on the 11^th floor of the hospital building (Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz, PPUKM) so as to allow me to move with ease to meet patients in clinics and wards,” said the Kedahan graduate.

The graduate from the Faculty of Medicine advised all students out there who suffers a similar fate as her to not give up and keep moving forward in their studies.

“Do not let our impairments become an excuse to be sad, but instead let it be our strength to rise up again,” she advised.