Zul’s boy …

Where others might have given up, Zulkiple Ibrahim, sub-editor of the Features Desk, remains strong and persistent to overcome any obstacles.

Perseverance has made him stay positive to reach out for the smallest glimmer of hope without any regard to discouragement.

As he relates a momentous occasion in his life on this date,  Zulkiple thanked those who had stood by him and the blessings of Allah the Almighty.  

“On the 4th day of Syawal, my youngest son Muhamad Zul Azfar turns six years old.

When the stork brought him to this world, the boy suffered from many medical complications.

1. He had three heart problems including incorrectly placed blood vessels and a valve that failed to close, this had created problems in his lungs as the oxygen content became very low

 2. He became a blue boy and infections  then set in

 3. I made a decision despite the words of a top medical specialist: " HIS LIFE NOW WILL BE DECIDED BY GOD"  and "NO RESUSCITATION NEEDED" due to the various complications,  had him admitted to the National Heart Institute (IJN).

 4. At that time, I had my right leg amputated due to a major infection and was unable to accompany the boy to IJN

 5. He had only his mother at the bedside while I was alone in another hospital praying to Allah for his life

 6. The boy then underwent an EIGHT-hour  operation and due to Allah's will he survived but had to be hospitalised for almost two months after that.

 7. The story did not end there as the boy had to battle through many challenges in his life while I did the same in the hospital.

 With words of encouragement from friends in Bernama (they even set up a cash donation box at the Bernama lobby for my son), both of us managed to pull through.

Now six years after Aug 11, 2007,  both Zulkiple (now he had both legs amputated) and Muhamad Zul Azfar are still around with the support and blessings granted by Allah as well as that from Bernama, my friends there and family.

 When words got around that my son is suffering from various heart and lung complications, words of encouragement came from all over Malaysia and donations came from as far as Sabah and the Chinese community including newspaper organisations like China Press and Sin Chew,  not to mention the Sabah papers too.

The Chinese came all out to support my son, some even visited him in the IJN, ” said the 52 year-old Zulkiple, who joined Bernama as a part-timer at the English subs-desk in 1993.

He became a full-time staff in 1996, staying on at the desk until 2004.

He was then entrusted with the English captioning for Bernama Foto until he was transferred to features desk to handle English copies in 2006.

His eldest child, a 22 year-old son is studying in Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Tronoh and  20 year-old daughter  at Universiti Teknologi MARA in Bandar Seri Iskandar, both in Perak.

Azfar, his third child, attends classes at Kiwanis Down Syndrome Foundation in Petaling Jaya.