![The narrow corner leading to the bathroom once made access impossible for Balan. [Photo by Lim Char Boo]](/images/Articles/PPL/2026/KL20260131_ljm03_999.jpg "The narrow corner leading to the bathroom once made access impossible for Balan. [Photo by Lim Char Boo]")
For Balan, a double amputee, a few extra centimetres meant far more than a home improvement. They marked a turning point in a life shrouded by four decades of adversity. With care, skill and compassion, Tzu Chi volunteers widened the bathroom entrance, removing the invisible barriers that had long confined this family’s dignity and opening a path to independence.
On the morning of 27 January 2026, soft daylight filtered into an ageing flat in Bandar Sri Subang, Petaling Jaya. Up three flights of stairs, behind a narrow doorway, lives 46-year-old Balan a/l Vangnani.
The nondescript flat posed daily obstacles for Balan, who is wheelchair bound. The tight corner leading to the bathroom left no room for his wheelchair to turn, making entry impossible. At the doorway, a raised threshold kept him from going out on his own.
◎ A life forever altered
Balan’s life changed irrevocably at the age of six. While riding on a motorcycle with his father and younger brother, they were involved in a fatal accident that claimed the lives of his father and brother. Balan survived but lost both legs. From that day on, his world has been measured from the height of a wheelchair.
Over the years, the wheelchair became both his lifeline and his burden. Constant friction caused recurring inflammation and open sores that required daily care. Years of pushing himself forward left his arms and shoulders in chronic pain.
Compounding this, Balan lives with syringomyelia, a rare and progressive spinal condition, since the accident. Fluid-filled cysts formed within his spinal cord, gradually impairing nerve function. He lost the ability to urinate independently and now relies on a catheter, replaced every five weeks through an invasive procedure.
◎ A family bound by hardship and resilience
By his side through many of life's challenges is his wife, Kalaiselvi a/p Sinnapavan. She, too, lives with multiple chronic conditions — asthma, heart disease and epilepsy. The two became a family in 2019, along with her two sons from a previous marriage.
Before the pandemic, Balan made a modest living selling umbrellas and pens from his wheelchair. When lockdowns came, that fragile income was disrupted. By 2024, the combined weight of financial strain and physical and mental exhaustion led him to seek help from Tzu Chi.
◎ The quiet erosion of dignity
In 2024, the family moved into the home of Balan’s 58-year-old aunt, Kaliamah a/p Sinnavan, to save on rent and to support one another. Widowed long ago, and having lost her only daughter to illness, she opened her home without hesitation — offering shelter, meals and care out of deep familial love.
Yet the flat presented a critical challenge: the bathroom doorway was too narrow for a wheelchair. Each day, Balan had to wait for his wife to return from work so she could drive him to a friend’s house, where he could bathe and use the toilet.
This ordeal repeated itself almost daily.
“Sometimes, I simply can’t hold it, and I end up soiling myself,” Balan admitted softly. “It’s so embarrassing.”
◎ Opening hearts, one step at a time
Tzu Chi volunteer Michele Ng and her team have been visiting the family for six months. Trust, however, did not come easily. Past experiences had left the aunt wary of outsiders, while Balan himself was reserved.
Rather than rushing into repairs, Michele chose patience.
She noticed the couple’s teenage sons struggling in school. Further understanding revealed that the second son had vision problems, and Balan himself had long been living with blurred sight.
Tzu Chi stepped in to sponsor eyeglasses for both father and son. As their world returned into focus, so too did their spirits. These two pairs of glasses did more than restore sight; they bridged the distance between the family and the volunteers.
Michele later brought Balan and his children to a Tzu Chi environmental exhibition and involved them in recycling activities. As they sorted recyclables together, they began to rediscover their sense of purpose and their role in caring for the Earth. Over time, their long-held guard began to soften.
Michele remained concerned about Kalaiselvi’s health. The daily strain of lifting her husband had caused frequent abdominal pain, but she refused treatment due to financial worries and fear of surgery.
“If nothing changed, her body would give way,” Michele said. “To save this family, we had to start with the door.”
◎ Craftsmanship guided by compassion
Tzu Chi KL & Selangor Chapter funded essential home modifications — widening the bathroom entrance, relocating the washbasin, and installing an aluminium ramp. These changes would allow Balan to move independently and ease his wife’s burden.
Volunteer Too Chwan Choon took on the work. A professional renovator, he charged only a minimal fee.
“Work is work wherever I go,” he said, wiping sweat in the cramped flat. “But here, I can put my skills to (meaningful) use.”
Each careful adjustment transformed daily life. The widened bathroom doorway and foldable door now allow the wheelchair to pass freely. The ramp removed the hazardous step at the house entrance.
“Giving care recipients a comfortable living environment is a way of relieving suffering and bringing forth joy,” he said simply.
He added gently to Balan, “Believe in your own potential. One day, I hope you will go from receiving help to giving it.”
◎ A doorway to dignity
On the day the renovation was completed, Balan wheeled himself into the bathroom for the first time. Tears filled his eyes.
“I never imagined this day would come,” he said, “You have solved a problem I lived with every single day.”
He no longer has to wait helplessly for assistance. His wife’s burden has also been lifted.
Standing nearby, his aunt said tearfully, “It pained me to see him go through this every day. Thank you so much!”
◎ More than material aid
Tzu Chi’s work is not merely about providing material support. It is also about restoring dignity. Michele described Balan’s long-standing pain as “a needle lodged in the hand”. “Solving his toileting issues is like removing that needle. Only when the pain is gone can he use that hand again — to stand on his own, and to give.”
The doorway is no longer an obstacle. It has become an entrance to dignity, independence and hope.
●
Balan is already planning his next step: clearing his remaining stock of pens and restarting his livelihood by selling car air fresheners.
This journey of compassion has not only repaired a home, but also gently restored a family’s courage and hope for the future.
When the door opens, the heart follows.
