IPOH, Oct 18 — For five years, a wheelchair was Salinah Osman’s constant companion, confining the once-active massage therapist to a life far removed from the independence she had enjoyed before suffering a second stroke in 2021.
The 58-year-old, originally from Bukit Mertajam, Penang, still remembers the morning she tried to stand up from a seated position, only for both legs to suddenly give way and her right hand to grow weak.
Unlike her first stroke about two decades earlier, the second robbed her of the strength and mobility she needed to practise her profession, which had brought relief and comfort to hundreds of clients through her home-based spa business.
It also kept her away from the community and volunteer work she loved, leaving her dependent on her husband, Md Rasid Mehat, 66, for daily care while she grappled with other health problems, including heart failure and chronic asthma.
