"I still have a lot of down days. It's frustrating because I can’t do anything on my own anymore. I have someone who come in seven days a week to take care of me. It takes about three hours just to get ready in the mornings. And about 30 minutes to get me into bed. I’m a lot of work,” Dillion said. He didn’t adjust well when the accident first happened. But as time went by, he became more accepting of the situation. Dillion still suffers physically, but he tries to make the best of it. He added: "It’s still very hard to talk about it, but I’m grateful to be alive. So many other things could have gone wrong. The only way I know how to cope with the situation is to stay distracted. The more I stay distracted, the less I think about it. If I think about how it used to be, life was just too good. I miss little things like being able to get out of bed in the morning and enjoy a nice shower. I really did lose everything. So now I take nothing for granted. I know if I could experience this and go back to my old self, you would never hear a complain out of me. Like, ever.” With the help of his family and friends, Dillion is regaining the confidence to explore the things he used to love. His good friend Mike helped him set up an off-road wheelchair so that he can go on trails and enjoy the beach.

Dillon Connolly was an All-American athlete who had a swimming scholarship from the University of Southern California. He loved being outdoors and was the most active person you would know. A week after he decided to move to Miami to train for the Olympics, he injured himself. This was back in September 2014 and he was only 25 years old. He went swimming with his friends in Newport Beach and as he dove into the waves, his body crashed into the sand. He recalls, "When I hit the bottom, I was stuck face down for a minute or two. At first, my friends thought I was joking because I was such a good swimmer. But when one of my friends rolled me over, they realised something was wrong. I couldn’t feel anything." Dillon was immediately and completely paralysed. He shattered his C5 and C6 vertebrae, and had to go into surgery right away. Because of the injury, he lost half the function of his body and other things like his intercostal muscles. He can't regulate his body temperature, which makes it challenging to adjust to the weather. On New Year’s Eve 2014, Dillion checked into a rehab centre for spinal cord injury.

"I still remember the day I met her. It was in early 2012. I wanted to buy a pair of Beats by Dre headphones from this seller on Mudah.my. I met up with him and he brought his sister along. We started talking and let’s just say the rest was history. We dated for about a year before we got married. The one thing I really love about my wife is how she supports me in everything I do. When I first started running marathons, she was the one who encouraged me. She trained with me and she ran with me. I used to be aquaphobic as well, but she helped me get over that. She found me a good teacher and now I enjoy swimming. When I asked her what made her attracted to me, she said it was how positive I always was. I’m a very confident person and I knew that I would bounce back after the accident. But I wasn’t sure if anybody would want me the way I am. I just tried not to think about it. I kept focusing on developing myself. I spent a lot of time trying to be better in all aspects of my life. I always believed that if we want people to accept us, we must learn to accept ourselves first. And I guess it worked. When I started accepting myself the way I am, everyone started accepting me as well. If you ask me to go back in time and erase what happened, I honestly wouldn’t. I’ve never been happier. I have a good life. I have a beautiful family. I enjoy work. I mean, what else can a man ask for?"

"Besides the amputation, I had two other major injuries from the accident. The bone on my left thigh broke and was sticking out. So the doctors had to push it back in and insert a six-inch plate to hold it together. I also lost half of my right toe. After five surgeries, I was bed ridden for six months. And because I was suffering from internal bleeding, it took me longer to fully recover. That period was really hard for me. I was always an active person and I could never sit still. I love snowboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking, running, boxing, swimming - you name it. But motorcycles were always my number one passion. I remember people at the hospital looking at me funny because I was reading a bike magazine a few days after the amputation. I was so bored during that downtime. The one thing that did excite me was designing a modified gear lever for my bike. It took me a year and a half to finally get back on a bike. It was the best feeling ever! Although, I was quite paranoid during the first ride. I made sure I was wearing full gear including my leather suit. It took time for me to gain my confidence back. But by 2007, I was training to be a professional motorbike racer. Unfortunately, my racing license was rejected due to my disability. It was very frustrating. But I still became the first disable person in Malaysia to ride a motorbike at the Sepang International Circuit. In 2013, I rode my bike to the fabled Thousand Corners and Golden Triangle. It was a 10-day solo trip and the experience was amazing. Some people think that I’m unlucky, but I don’t see my disability as a disadvantage. To be honest, I think the accident has made me a better person. I don’t think that there’s anything that I can’t do. I really want to do a triathlon next. That’s what I’m aiming for. And diving. I would really like to try that too."

"This whole story started 11 years ago. On 26 August 2005, I was on my way to work in the morning. As usual, I rode my motorbike from Puchong to Kuala Lumpur. I was approaching the interchange between the LDP and KESAS Highway. I looked into the side mirror and noticed a 10-tyre lorry behind me. The lorry was going a tad too fast for a downhill exit. Before I knew it, the driver knocked me from behind. I was immediately thrown off my bike. Then I was underneath the lorry. I thought that I was a goner for sure. I swear that I saw the lorry tyre almost hitting my chest. I couldn’t do anything except close my eyes and pray. When I opened my eyes, it was dark. I thought that was it. I was dead. I was buried and in my grave. But then I saw the axel and tyres. I realised that I was still underneath the lorry. It was still moving. And I was suddenly thrown behind. I was still conscious at that time. People stopped to help and most of them were surprised that I was still alive. An accident of that magnitude? I’m lucky to still be here. I didn’t look at my leg because I didn’t want to faint. But I was told that it looked like the Terminator. No mass. No skin. Just exposed bones. For five months, I’ve used that road. And I’ve never seen an ambulance pass by before. But that morning, there was one. And a doctor was inside. Fortunately, he knew how to handle my injury. One misstep and I would have bled to death. When I got to the ER, I was arguing with the doctors. They wanted to amputate my leg, but I didn’t want to. After three surgeries, the doctor told me that the best option was to have it amputated. My leg was heavily damaged and it was starting to develop gangrene. I was running a high fever and getting a bacterial infection as well. I needed time to process everything so I told the doctor to come back in the morning. I prayed the whole night and came to accept my fate. The next day, I went into surgery and my leg was gone."

"It gets challenging at times. But I’ve been really lucky. I’m surrounded by an amazing circle of friends. No one cares about my condition. But I still apologise every time I accidentally touch them. My friends keep telling me to stop apologising because it’s just wet hands. I honestly feel touched whenever they say that. It reassures me. It makes me feel normal. My advice to those who know people living with hyperhidrosis is to not treat them differently. It’s hard enough living with this condition. Having people remind us of it makes it worse. It’s something we can’t control. Instead of tearing us down, help build our confidence. I had very low self-esteem when I was growing up. And if it wasn’t for my friends, I wouldn’t have gotten over it. Yeah, it still affects me now and again. But I know that it’s nothing to be ashamed of. If anything, I think it’s important to open up about it. We need to talk about this condition and educate others about hyperhidrosis. That’s the only way we can create more understanding."

"I have a fear of having body contact with other people. It’s something I struggle with everyday. Because I’m always sweating, I have a problem with body odour as well. It’s hard to meet new people. I sometimes catch them cringing at the sight of my hands. It gets very awkward and I have to explain why my hands are always wet. I’m very self-conscious about it. Sometimes I even refuse to hold my boyfriend’s hand. He doesn’t mind, but I do. I also avoid sports at all cost. Unless it’s in the water. I like being in the water. It makes me feel comfortable. I get to hide my condition well. I guess I could get surgery to fix this. But I don’t want to. Not yet, anyway. I’ve done my research and yes, there are a lot of successful cases. The risk however is that your sweat might ‘relocate’ to different parts of your body. Instead of my palms and feet, it might ‘move’ to my back and chest. I don’t know if I can readjust and get use to that."

"I was in kindergarten when I first realised that something was wrong. I couldn’t stop sweating. My palms, feet and armpits were always wet. I had to bring a lot of handkerchiefs to school. One wasn’t enough. I thought I was sick, but I didn’t feel sick. It just felt like my body contained too much water. My brother also has hyperhidrosis. But not as bad as me. My mom used to tell me that it was normal, but I knew it wasn’t. My nickname used to be Clumsy and I hated it. I kept dropping things and breaking things because of my sweaty palms. I always have to be extra careful, though sometimes it doesn’t help. People used to make fun of me a lot. That made me very insecure. Three years ago I went to a convention for work. Someone I knew said to me: 'How old are you? You’re like a little kid. Still carrying around handkerchiefs.' I was so embarrassed. Since that day, I stopped using handkerchiefs in public. I rely on tissues now, but that does very little for me."

"I’m currently seeing five doctors in four hospitals. And I’ve met many doctors throughout the years. Some were nice and went above and beyond in helping me. But some were very mean and broke my spirit. Some of them yelled at me and told me that I would never be successful at losing weight. I understand that they were lecturing me out of concern, but I would appreciate it if they weren’t so harsh. So many obese patients suffer from ‘medical fat-phobia.’ They avoid treatment till the very last minute because they are sick and tired of being fat-shamed. If doctors want obese patients to come to them earlier, they should exercise some tact and mindfulness. When we go the doctors, the last thing we want is another person fat-shaming us. We need a friend. A safe space for us to express ourselves freely. Healthcare providers should put themselves in our shoes. Try to understand us and treat us based on our exact needs. Not judge us and make us feel worthless. It’s enough that we have to fight our battles on a daily basis. We get discriminated all the time. Even by insurance companies. Apparently, I'm not eligible to have health insurance because my weight is above 100 kgs. It baffles me and saddens me to hear this. Obese people are the ones who need help the most. But we are denied help because we are considered high risk customers. Yes, that is true. But it doesn't automatically mean that the risk will materialise. My wish is for doctors to be our advocates in convincing insurance companies to change their policies. Hopefully one day these type of polices will change and we can get equal right and coverage like everyone else."

"I was a practicing lawyer, but I switched to knowledge management. There were times when I had to work 18 hours a day. I only slept for two to three hours each night. I wasn’t eating properly either. I made the mistake of consuming protein shakes. I was hoping it would give me the energy boost that I needed and help me lose weight at the same time. It turns out, I wasted a lot of money and time as the ingredients were not compatible with my body. I became dizzy every morning. I didn't know how to balance my calorie intake. Coupled this with the long hours and lack of proper sleep, I developed multiple joint pains. I also noticed that my hands were turning blue. They would tremble. It was so bad. I couldn’t even hold a pen or button up my clothes. One day, I just collapsed at work. I was rushed to the doctors. I was on medical leave for a week. When I was away, the human resource (HR) department went nuts. I was asked to do work even when I was on the emergency bed. My blood pressure levels were 154/111. What's worse was the fact that they kept rushing me to come back to work. I did and I collapsed again within a month. The second time it happened, I was away from work for four days. The HR manager called me and said, ‘You either get well, get better or get out.’ Those were her exact words. I was sick and they didn’t care. All they cared about was making money. I couldn’t take it anymore so I resigned. Whilst i was serving my two-month notice period, I saw a doctor who gave me medicine to stabilise my conditions. I was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue, anaemia and hypothyroid. Thankfully the medicine worked and I recovered. I started performing again. My bosses saw my improvements and they asked me to extend my stay. But I said no. I wasn’t going to let them squeeze me to death. If I stayed and got sick again, they would have done the exact same thing. I work in legal publishing now, but what I really want to do is to write and be a travel photographer. I haven’t took the leap yet. I want to, but it’s really difficult especially with my health conditions. It’s very stressful."

"I was always heavy. Even as a baby. My mother had to get a C-section because I was too big for a normal delivery. If you meet my mom, you wouldn’t believe that I’m her daughter. Ever since I was a child I've been in and out of hospitals due to various health complications. I got my period when I was 11. But when I was 14, problems started happening. I wouldn’t get it regularly. Sometimes I wouldn’t get it for six months. And sometimes it wouldn’t stop for two months. I've had problems with my hormones since I was 14. I had to see a few gynecologists at that age. Because I started to gain more weight and had difficulty losing it, some of the doctors assumed that I was pregnant. It was very traumatic and exhausting, especially when they asked me questions like, ‘Are you sexually active?’ I also developed skin conditions so I had to see a skin specialist as well. The doctor suggested I get liposuction. I mean, I was just a teenager! It can’t be right for a teenager to get liposuction! I switched doctors and I was put on a regime to lose weight. It worked and I lost the weight. But when I stopped seeing him, I gained everything back. It was so frustrating and disheartening. I began to lose faith. Things got worse when my parents got divorced when I was 15. I didn’t know how to handle my emotions, so I ate. Food was my drug. I just kept eating and eating. I developed even more complications with my hormones. I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) as a result."

“He’s 19 now and he speaks well. He is a very loving boy. He does not raise his voice and he is never aggressive. He’s also very fun to be around. He’s very smart too. He taught himself how to use the computer. Just like any teenager, he’s always attached to his gadgets. He loves playing games. There was one time, I got a bill for RM300. I was shocked because I didn’t know where it came from. I checked the receipts and realised that he purchased some games on my phone. I was really angry, but of course I knew that he wasn’t aware of what he was doing. He just clicked away. I had to changed the automatic payment system. And now I make sure I delete certain things before I let him use my phone.”

“I’ve never heard of autism before. But one day, I was reading the newspaper. And I saw a picture of a boy taken from the back and he looked a lot like my son. I thought someone used his picture without my permission. I started reading the article and it was about autism and this organisation called Child Sabah. There was a phone number at the bottom. I called and made an appointment. We did an assessment that was sent to the United States. The report came back confirming that he is autistic. After the assessment, we didn’t do anything or go anywhere. My husband had a hard time accepting that something was wrong with our son. We couldn’t put him in regular school. He was rejected twice for being hyperactive. I was really hurt, but after six months Child Sabah called. There was an opening at the centre so we started sending him there. I started going for classes as well. I wanted to learn more about autism. And I remember the first time I was at a talk. They played an introduction video about autism. I was sitting at the back and I couldn’t stop crying. It hurts when people say he’s crazy or call him the devil’s child. I wish I could do something more to protect him. As a parent, I worry about what would happen to him when I’m not around anymore. My wish is for his siblings to take good care of him in the event that I am gone. I hope to outlive him so that I can make sure he will always be in good hands. He’s different and it’s difficult at times. But he is still my son. Just because he has autism, it doesn’t mean that I love him any less.”

"When a child is born, you can’t tell if he or she is autistic or not. You only realise it when you notice signs like repetitive behaviours or speech impair. He was always a quiet baby. I didn't realise something was wrong until he was three years old. He wasn't speaking yet, but he loved listening to nursery rhymes and watching TV. He would just stare at things like books for a very long time. He also had a habit of organising all our DVDs in a straight line. He would stack them up. I thought, ‘Oh, this is good. My son must be very intelligent.’ But he never spoke. He was very hyper though. We had to lock our bathroom and even our refrigerator. He used to go in the bathroom and play with soap and water. He would even sit inside the refrigerator. It was very dangerous. What if something happened? We always had to lock our windows, doors and gate. The moment anything is open, he would dart out of the house. He wouldn’t look left or right. He would just walk through everything. He could seriously hurt himself. But we didn’t know what’s wrong with him."

"I've been having prolonged menstrual periods for more than two years now. Someone once asked me about how long my periods last. I couldn't answer. But I can tell you how many 'dry days' I have in a month. Less than five. It's extremely frustrating. There was a period, about four years ago when I didn't have my period for over six months! I'd hear girls in the toilet getting annoyed over their period and there I was, wishing I had mine. It's not fun to know that there's something wrong with your body. I did meet a doctor or two, but nothing ever came out of it. After awhile, I got used to it. It was just something I had to live with. I suppose that's why I never really bothered going to a gynae. I had to wear pads or tampons everyday which was expensive and wasteful. I would get so excited when I had 'dry days’ and could ditch the pads and tampons. What pushed me to schedule an appointment with a gynae was when I found out that a friend of mine couldn't get pregnant. She had irregular period like me. I also found out about PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and when I read the symptoms and signs, it all felt too familiar. That prompted me to visit a gynae and now I'm waiting for my diagnosis. It's scary but comforting to know that 1 in 10 women have it. Most of them don't know they do. The good thing is that it can be controlled with medication. If you have prolonged or inconsistent periods, search about PCOS and its symptoms. It’s important to consult with a doctor. Never self-diagnose or self-medicate with contraceptives. I almost did that, but glad I didn't. I was given hormone pills instead to balance the estrogen in my body. If you live in Kota Kinabalu, I would suggest visiting SabahCare Specialist Clinic."

"I've had painful cramps ever since my period started. Some months, it’s bearable. I have mild soreness in my reproductive organs. But some months, it gets so bad that I can’t function. The pain is brutal. It feels like a machine twisting and wrenching my insides. God forbid you be a woman. Besides the cramps, I can’t eat. My body would reject anything in my gut. I would either throw up or spend a horrible day on the toilet. Because I have nothing in my stomach, I can’t take painkillers either. So I would just throw up again. Once when I was about 14, my mother couldn’t bear my moaning and wailing. She decided to take me to a clinic for a checkup. The doctor suspected cysts and did an ultrasound scan. There were no cysts. Lucky me. But I found out that I had a condition called dysmenorrhea. Unfortunately, there is no solution for that. Once,when I was in taking an exam in university, I was in so much pain. I threw up until there was nothing left but bile to throw up. I blacked out. I missed one paper and I had to redo the entire module. When I started working, I would have to take one day off work every month because of this. I decided to go for more thorough gynae checks. I did everything. Ultrasound scans, blood tests, pap smears - you name it. But all was normal. The likely culprit was hormones. I was prescribed hormone pills to manage the pain. It helped. After six months, I went off the pills to see if it can self-regulate. It’s been more than a year now and I'm generally doing fine. I don’t get horrible intolerable cramps anymore. They’re not as serious as before. I had to learn to live with the discomfort using heat pads and hot water. Some women are lucky because this never happens to them. But some women, like me, are not as fortunate. My mother tells me she used to go through this stage as well. It wasn't until she had her first baby that her hormones miraculously sorted itself out. My doctor says it’s possible. So maybe I should have a baby soon? I hope everyone else can have a little more compassion and understanding for women, especially when you hear of their pains."

"I don’t know why, but nobody seems to talk about it. Perhaps women here just don’t know about it. It’s not that common in Asia as compared to western countries. I had PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) for seven years. It’s a disorder with large amounts of harmless follicles found in both ovaries. When the ovaries are enlarged, the little bubbles contain small collections of fluid. It’s easily detectable with an ultrasound. It’s similar to cysts, but it can turn cancerous. It can also cause other long-term complications,such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. I got it when I was 22. I didn’t know what was wrong, but I started gaining weight drastically. In three months I ballooned from 45kg to 65kg. I wasn’t eating more or doing anything different. It got so bad that my skin would hurt when I touched it. My period stopped for about a year and a half as well. I went to see four doctors, but everyone just gave me contraceptive pills. No one even bothered doing a blood test. The pills didn’t work and I suffered from all the side effects. My parents found a modern medication doctor in Thailand who treated me. I was on oral medication for six years. It was a very challenging time in my life. Whenever I ate, my body absorbed insulin twice as much. Everyone kept asking me why I was so fat. Whenever I looked at my wardrobe I would start crying. It got really depressing and I didn’t want to go out. Women with PCOS also have a hard time getting pregnant. That really made me upset because I want to have babies. I was so relieved when my period finally came back. I was like, ‘Oh my God! I missed you! You’re here!’ Now I go get checked every year. Last year, I had my ultrasound and all the bubbles were gone. No words can describe how happy I am to be off from PCOS. I’m taking better care of myself. I eat well. I exercise. I have a balance life and I get enough sleep."