How am I coping with chronic pain? Let’s see …
Last in a series. Read parts one and two. I bought shoes I wasn’t sure I’d wear. That seems like a trivial statement, I know. Except the shoes cost 119 SGD ($89)…
Wandering the Lines — Sherry Toh
Sherry “Elisa” Toh (she/they) is a journalist who lives in sunny Singapore. Her diagnosis of SMA type II was in 1999 at 13 months old. Kyphoscoliosis and chronic neuropathy later developed as complications. As a hopeless romantic, her loves include fairy tales, tea, and gaming — the last being the primary focus of her work. She has bylines in PCGamesN, NME, and more. In 2023, her essay “Virtual Progress: A Disabled Journalist’s Thoughts on the Video Games Industry” was published in Singapore’s first printed disability studies anthology, “Not Without Us: Perspective on Disabilities and Inclusion in Singapore.” She writes in hopes of offering community and catharsis. Find her @sherlisass on social media.
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Finally, Singaporeans like me can access the SMA treatment Evrysdi
Note: This column describes the author’s own experiences with Evrysdi (risdiplam). Not everyone will have the same response to treatment. Consult your doctor before starting or stopping a therapy. I hadn’t meant to…
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A tribute to my dedicated nurses, who go above and beyond
Second in a series. Read part one. My mum likes to say that my home-care nurse is like a second mother to me, and I’d have to agree. Ever since my SMA…
‘What can a pain specialist do for you, anyway?’
First in a series. “All right, I have to go. Bye, Sherry,” my then-new pain specialist said. “I hope I won’t see you for a few months.” That was a few days after he’d…
Why I’m seeking spinal fusion surgery at age 25, despite the risks
I’ll confess: When I wished for a spinal fusion in my teens, it was for cosmetic reasons. This was before kyphoscoliosis — an abnormal curvature of the spine both sideways and forward…
After more than a decade without one, I have a new power wheelchair
I’ve never understood why some people are weird about wheelchairs. Why the pity? Why think needing to use one is one of the worst things someone could face? I blame my first power wheelchair…
The importance of a knowledgeable medical team to an SMA patient
“Let me go, Mum,” I begged. It was Day 2 of a harrowing hospital stay. My chest had been hurting and feeling tight, nonstop. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. I was tachycardic,…
Becoming a video game writer is all about choices
My introduction to a branching dialogue system in a role-playing game happened in 2019, the first time I played Dragon Age: Inquisition. The character I’d just created was a prisoner suspected of…
Finally, I was diagnosed with ADHD. Here’s what that means
“You and our baby brother should count yourselves lucky,” I told my brother Gabriel after my first appointment with a psychologist for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). “If I have ADHD, it means I…
Writing a children’s book helped me shed light on growing up with SMA
If you had a chance to fictionalize your life in a children’s book, how would you do it? Would you make the protagonist yourself, or would it be a loved one while you are…
We need to redesign society’s systems for true disability inclusion
“So, how are you? What have you been up to?” I asked my friend Phoebe Chua back in November. It’d been a decade since we last saw each other. But we’d spontaneously reconnected…
‘I Can Do It With a Broken Heart’: Why I relate to this Swift song
If I owned a calendar, its December through April would be stained with tears. The square where Dec. 16, 2023, lands would have angry-looking ink blotches on it — to represent how I felt…
