Update: Saturday, 18 July – Morning

Sorry for the long silence. Mat Norr is now out of hospital already. He was discharged from the IJN about four days ago and now recuperating at an apartment in Seputeh. He will be staying at my house from Sunday onwards. The surgery went fine, there’s no complications but Mat Norr has to take it easy for at least two months. He was at the hospital yesterday to check upon his blood (as he may need to take blood-thinning pills if its still too thick, a condition he was facing before surgery).

BTW; WE STILL NEED DONATIONS TO PAY FOR THE FIRST HOSPITAL FEES AND ALSO HIS FUTURE MEDICATIONS. THE BANK ACCOUNT IS STILL THE SAME (check below).

Update: Wednesday, 8th July – Night

Just got a message from Ann who visited Mat Norr just now with Alak & Hakim:

“He’s feeling awful but looking OK – even with all the tubes! Can’t speak much, is drowsy… breathing is difficult… chest hurts… but that’s to be expected. his heartbeat is about 90 and looking rhythmic (stable). (edited personal stuff here)… I think its not a good time (for visits) anyway. The surgeon will see him tomorrow and decide if he’s OK to go back upstairs (Mawar Ward)”

Alak called later and said Mat Norr “tak senyum langsung” (didn’t smile at all) and “he looked miserable”. Well, I just think it’s the pain, the drugs and all. He’ll be better tomorrow.

BTW: Alak hasn’t checked his Maybank account today, so I can’t tell you how much we’ve collected since the emergency on Monday but I’ve had calls and messages from people who’ve banked in some money; including from the UK.

I’m also too busy to go check upon our friend but will be there tomorrow.

cheers,

Joe

Update: Tuesday, 7th July – Night

Norr went through a six-hour operation today. It started around 12.30 noon. Ann who was there (with one of Norr’s 3 brothers) when the surgery’s done told I-Lann that the doctors were happy with it.

They managed to fix the leaking, weak valve instead of having to replace it (which involves having foreign bodies squatting in your heart and that’s tricky). The doctors also checked his other valve and found that it’s fine. So only one valve needed repair, whew!

Currently Norr is highly sedated and put under vigilant watch at the ICU. He’ll be there for 48 hours after surgery. Apparently his blood pressure was rather low, so they need to fix that.

Visitors are allowed to see him but only one at each time. That said, it’s suggested that friends should wait till he’s out of danger.

I’m gonna go and see him in the morning. Will report of any changes.

cheers,

Joe

Update: Tuesday, 7th July

It’s 12.10PM on Tuesday, Mat Norr is probably being operated on at this very moment. And we are all hoping for the best!

Yesterday we managed to raise RM3K to pay for a part of the whole estimated cost of the surgery, which is RM30,000. With the help of the welfare department, the rest of the cost will be subsidised by the government.

Thanks to all of you who banked in some money, we need all your help! So even a RM1 donation is very much appreciated! WE ARE STILL LOOKING FOR MORE MONEY! This is because some of us paid for the Gleneagles “cekik darah” fee (RM5,000 +) and we need to pay them back, at least half of the amount paid.

The bank-in details is down there, if you need to send money from overseas, please use Western Union outlets near you. Email us for our recipient details.

We’ll go and see Mat Norr at about 6PM today.

Update: Saturday, 4th July

Mat Norr’s now back to his usual self. The doctors are happy with his progress, and ready to discharge him in the next few days. He still need to go through his corrective heart surgery later in the month (hopefully). Once discharged, he’ll stay at my house and we’ll take care of him until the day comes for him to go back to IJN for the surgery.

BTW: thanks to those who helped and the kind people at IJN, Mat Norr is now entitled for financial assistance from the government (“Bantuan Kebajikan”) which means that he’ll will only pay as much he able to, instead of being burdened by the whole cost of treatment and surgery. It can be a LOT still but we can only know once he’s gone through the surgery…

That said, we’ve set up a bank account for DONATIONS as we still need to pay whatever amount it is needed, including the RM5000 plus already paid by friends for Gleneagles Hospital fee. The burden is now lessened BUT there are amounts to be settled, so if you can help; please bank in to this account. (any amount will do):

DONATIONS

MAYBANK ACCOUNT NO. 1627-6801-5177
the account of: WAN ALAUDIN

for overseas donors, please email us: thericecookershop [at] gmail [dot] com

* PLEASE SMS (013-229-8211) or EMAIL US (thericecookershop [at] gmail [dot] com) ONCE YOU BANK-IN THE MONEY, WE’LL HAVE A LIST OF DONORS AT A SPECIAL PAGE SOON. If you want to donate anonymously, please tell me so.

Thanks so much for all the help!!

Joe

Update: Thursday, 2nd July

Mat Norr is much better now. He’s been transferred out of the High Dependency Unit at the IJN (where he was sent to yesterday from Gleaneagles). We are still trying to get him financial assistance as a governement-sponsored patient but we have been given the run-around by the usual bureaucracy and greed bullshit. We are not giving up the fight though. Mat Norr still needs his open heart surgery and we are going to get it for him

those who wanna visit him: Ward Mawar, 2nd Floor, IJN (old building), Jalan Tun Razak, KL – Visiting hours 4pm to 8pm.

original post:

Dear friends, for those who have been to the shop and found it shut, and also to those who have been calling me up but I didn’t answer; I apologise. Our friend Mat Norr, who have been taking care of the shop for the last 6 months, have been hospitalised in Ampang because of his heart – he has been diagnosed as having Rheumatic Heart Disease. Me, I-lann, Alak and Annie have been busy helping him out since Monday, the day he was hospitalised.

We have got his brothers to come in today and tomorrow, and we are hoping we would be able to transfer him to IJN as soon as possible. A lot of friends have been helping out with contacts and “cables”, we are most grateful.

We will be setting up a special bank account for donations today, as we may need all of you reading to help with whatever amount you can.

I will keep you people informed. But don’t worry too much, Mat is awake, talking, eating etc. I will also charge my phone proper, it has been dying on me all the time. Call me up for details.

Thanks,

Joe

if you’re on Facebook, please join FACEBOOK GROUP: Friends of Mat Norr Group