When the world told me "No" but I wanted to be a Paralympian anyway

From the moment I was born, it was pretty much clear that I wasn't meant for sports. Would you expect otherwise for a person with brittle bones disease?

Doctors said, "No sports for Daniel." and my teachers told me, "Wait here in class." while all the other students prepared for PE sessions. All those words were so logical; meant to protect me. So I never put any thought to challenging it. Besides, I broke bones just sitting down. What more if I had played sports?

(My Primary 6 teachers here were fantastic people who nurtured my potential academically.)

September 6th, 2008 - I was watching the opening ceremony to the Beijing Summer Paralympic Games. While I was waiting for the Malaysian team to march out, a mixture of overwhelming pride for Malaysia and a sense of desire for sports that I've repressed since I was young hit me. It was then that I told myself, "One day, I'll be looking back at the crowd as an athlete instead."

It wasn't till 2012 that I finally took my first steps to being in sports when I was given my first sports chair. I started with my first 10km run and moved on to greater distances. There was something about speed and the wind on my face that gave me the sense of freedom ever since I was young. I've decided, I wanted to be a wheelchair racer.

However, things were not so simple. Wheelchair racing wasn't popular in Malaysia, and because of that there were no coaches, programmes or even anyone I could speak to about joining. I was determined still to reach the Paralympics and so I went into sitting volleyball. I did pretty well and went for the Asian Youth Para Games in 2013.

Still, wheelchair racing was in my heart and in 2014 I decided to do whatever I could to be in the sport. I managed to get a hold of a simple racing chair and an athletics coach in Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN) tested my time for a 400m loop around the track. It was my first time being on track with a racing chair, without any proper gloves or experience. I gave it a go and was so slow, I doubled the requirement time. The coach then told me that if I wanted to race, I'd need to learn in on my own as there was no coach, fund myself as there's no funding for this sport and do everything on my own until I showed some achievements.

I went on to a new job in empowering youth leaders and didn't really put much thoughts into sports after that. However, that desire for sports has always lingered and by 2016, (surprisingly NOT because of how well the Malaysian Paralympic team did) probably because I turned 25 and was seeing so many inspiring people around me chasing after their dreams, I decided to resign from my job to pursue this Paralympic dream all out.

So many people doubted me that time. Some from friends and family who were worried about my decision to leave a good job in the current economy, while others questioned if I was too old to start now. While asking for advice from a certain officer from Majlis Paralimpik Malaysia (MPM) he questioned my motives and accused me of participating only because of the RM1mil reward that the Paralympic athletes won for the 2016 Games. He said that I'm in it now that there's money involved. I was so hurt by it, I cried on the phone in front of my colleagues.

Despite all these "No's" and doubts from people, I am determined to reach my dreams. I don't care about the challenges, the financial constraints or the physical demands. If I can just do what I love and inspire others to strive for theirs along the way, I am living out my purpose.

Against all odds, it's been close to a year since my decision to resign and pursue sports. 2017 had been a year of much movement but little progress. Now in 2018, it'll be time for progress and doing what it takes to succeed. I'm still in this journey and have not seen the light at the end of the tunnel yet but if you'd join me along the way, I hope I can add value back to you by giving some inspiration.

Follow my progress here or on my social media handles. Your support and encouragement means the world to me.

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