Bartender Ong Chiaw Hock's, 60 , used to visit the Jurong East Swimming Complex every few months for a dip in the pool. The water park has a lazy river water ride, a wave pool, a jacuzzi, water slides and a 50 m competition pool. When Mr Ong was there, hee would always rent a float to go on the lazy river and in the wave pool and enjoy bobbing on the simulated waves in the shallow pools. But the father of two grown-up children has not stepped into any pool since a mishap occured to him there a year ago. He fracture his neck and came within millimetres of being paralysed. Had it not been for his larger than usual spinal canal, his spinal cord would have been crushed in the accident. Seven in 10 patients who suffered a traumatic neck injury like Mr Ong's woul have been paralysed, observe his doctor, Associate Professor Joseph Thambiah, head and senior consultant at the division of orthopaedic trauma of National University Hospital ( NUH). Prof Thambiah said: " He was extremely fortunate. God must have been smiling on him that day."
Mr Ong recalled the events leading to the freak accident on Dec. 9 last year as clearly as if it were only yesterday. On that fateful day, he made his way to the wave pool. He would usually get on his rented float at the shallow end of the pool as a safety precaution. That day was no different. At the entrance of the wave pool, where the water was ankle-deep. Mr Ong put the float behind him and attempted to sit on it. The waves hit his float and made him lose his balance, he recalled. He toppled over backwards and hit his head on the floor of the pool. "Before I could do anything a second round of waves came and turned may legs up in the air. I was flipped 180 degrees. I heard a crack from my neck and felt severe pain there." Mr Ong landed on his stomach and managed to sit up, but his neck felt so stiff he did not dare move his body after that. When he attempted to move his neck , there was unbearable pain emanating from it, he said. Mr Ong knew he needed help fast, so he called out to a swimmer near him to alert the lifeguards. When the lifeguards came to his side and wanted to lay him flat on the ground, he refused to let them do so.
Somehow, he knew he had to stay in the position he was in to avoid further pain and injury. The lifeguards eventually moved him to the first aid room by carriying him in his seated positions on a stretcher. All this time Mr Ong used his left hand to cluch his neck to support it. The 10 minute wait for the ambulance felt like en eternity, he recalled. At the hosital, it dawned on him that the accident could leave him immobile forever-a thought so frightening that he felt he would be better off dead than be paralysed for the rest of his life," he said. His wife, Mrs. Jeannie Ong, a 53 year old hairdresser, rushed to NUH from her workplace in Simei upon receiving news of his accident. She said in Mandarin:"When I was told that he needed immediate surgery, I was shocked that his injury could be so serious. My first thought was ,"While he be paralysed?" An X-ray and a computed tomography (CT) scan confirmed that he had dislocated two of seven cervical vertebrae, which are spinal bones in the neck. The misaligned bones changed the contour of his spinal cord, streching it and making it susceptible to injury, explaine Prof. Thambiah. The spinal cord is nestled in the spinal canal, which is usually between 11 and 13 mm wide. Prof Thambiah, pointed out that this wider canal was the reason his spinal cord was not crushed by the dislocated cervical vertebrae.If that had happened, Mr Ong would have been totally paralysed below his neck. He would have lost the use of his hands, legs and trunk and would have been unable to control his bladder and bowels. During the operation, Prof. Thambiah carefully moved the dislocate vertebrae back into position. He also inserted two 10 cm permanent titanium implants behind the spinal bones to stabilise the dislocate vertebrae and the ones immediately above and below. The surgery was made more challenging because Prof. Thambiah had to avoid touching the spinal cord, which was extemely sensitive and could be damage resulting in paralyses. A neurophysiologist, who does research on the nervous system , was also on hand to monitor the function of the nerve paths that might be at risk during surgery. It was such a delicate operation that putting Mr Ong under general anaesthesia and adjusting his head to insert a breathing tube down his air way took 1,30 hours when it would take between 15 and 20 minutes in most operations. The operation to insert the implants took another four hours. Mr Ong stayed in hospital for 10 days. For the next two monts, he underwent physiotherapy sessions at Khoo Teck Puat Hospita, which was nearer to his Yishun home than NUH, and wore a neck brace to supoort his neck. A month after the accident, he was back at work. Prof Thambiah said the insertion of the implat stiffened a portion of Mr. Ongs neck. When Mr.Ongs need to ceck his blind spot when driving or when someone taps him on the shoulder now, he can not turn his back to look over his shoulder. Instead, he needs to turn his entire upper body to look behind. But this is a minor inconvenience compare to being paralysed, he said. He has also been issued a medical card stating that he has a metal implant in his body which may activate a metal detection divice. He has traveled after the accident but has not had the need to flash this card at the airport. "May be someday," he said softly.
Time in Macalister 
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