Rice once a day, biscuits at night for family hit by tragedy

ALOR SETAR: A mother of five here has been forced to ration her family's meals to rice once a day and biscuits at night after her husband, the family's breadwinner, was left bedridden in a hit-and-run accident on Aug 31.

Siti Aliyaa Hani Rahman, 36, said the accident on the night of the National Day celebrations left her husband Mohd Wira Zakaria, 40, in a coma for a month due to serious brain injuries.

She said she has been unable to work at her roti canai stall as she has to care for her husband, who needs special milk every three hours and frequent removal of phlegm.

"My husband and child were hit while on their way home after sending flour to me at the stall. My husband and I sell roti canai from midnight until morning at the Alor Setar wholesale market.

"The motorcycle my husband was riding was rammed by a car, causing him serious brain injuries that left him in a coma for almost a month.

"He was treated in the intensive care unit of Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital for 21 days before being moved to a normal ward for 10 days. My seven-year-old child only suffered minor injuries," she said when met at her home in Taman Sri Indah here.

She said her husband was also confirmed to have stage five kidney failure.

She added that she could not afford dialysis treatment for him as she would have to rent an ambulance at a cost of RM300 for each trip to and from the hospital.

"The money to buy special milk, equipment such as tubes, disposable diapers and so on comes to RM1,500 a month.

"I also have to pay RM700 in rent a month and now we depend only on RM800 from the Social Welfare Department and RM500 in zakat a month.

"That is why our family has to ration rice to once a day and only biscuits at night. Even then, every night when we eat biscuits I cry thinking about my children's fate. They need enough food to study," said the mother, who supports children aged between six and 18.

They include two sons, aged 10 and seven, who have hearing disabilities.

She said she accepts the test from God but still hopes for a miracle so her husband can recover.

"The doctors cannot give an answer on whether my husband will be able to walk again. Right now there is some movement in his eyes and a little in his legs," she said.