Blind couple help others by donating blood

KUCHING: Both are blind but Tazlan Jen, 53, and his wife Nur Atirah Voon Abdullah, 33, have such a big heart to help save the lives of others that they donated their blood at a donation drive in the Kuching South City Council community hall, here, yesterday.

It was the third time the couple donated their blood since their first in June this year after years of keeping their wish but unable to do so as they were unsure of the procedure.

“My wife and I operate a massage and reflexology centre and coincidentally, one of our customers is a blood donor and he asked us whether we wanted to donate blood. We were excited about it and decided to join the effort and that was how we started,” Tazlan said when met by reporters.

He said since then, this customer, whom he did not identify by name, would pick him and his wife whenever they were ready to donate blood.

“We want to help those in need of blood because we never know when we need the same help from others and we are happy to play a part in helping society,” he said.

Tazlan said he was born without any vision impairment but he began to have nerve damage complications at the age of 25 while being a timber worker and eventually became blind.

Despite losing his sight, he did not despair and with the help of the Sarawak Welfare Department, he underwent rehabilitation and vocational training at the Gurney Training Centre for the Blind in Kuala Lumpur.

After his training, he worked at a massage parlour in Batu Lintang, here, before opening his own massage and reflexology centre, TN Massage Centre in Batu Kawah which he and Nur Atirah have been operating for 12 years.

Nur Atirah, meanwhile, became blind after suffering from glaucoma and the couple now have three children.

-- BERNAMA