Two years ago, Salleh bin Ismail's doctor told him and his family that there was little hope of recovery since he had been to the ICU three times in a short period and one of those times, he was in a coma. All this was an escalation from an earlier stroke as a result of a bleeding to his brain and to make matters worse, he had high blood pressure.

Salleh remembers during that time when he spent most of his days indoors, bedridden and Used to u-shaped walking stick to slowly get around. "I could not walk properly and I was very weak. I was also tired and could not even raise my head when I walked with the stick," he said.

It was a sombre scene then but today, this 74-year-old grandfather of 10 has been given a new lease of life, thanks to NTUC Eldercare's Care@home programme. With the help of iCare Officer who came three times a week and a physiotherapist who came occassionally to assess hois situation plus regular medication from his doctor, Salleh progressed remarkably and is now able to walk using a quad-walking stick and sometimes, can walk without the stick in the house.

Salleh's wife, Mahani Bte Shaik Mohamed, shared that the caregiver would go beyond the call of duty and sometimes bring special leaves to cover her husband's swollen leg. She piped in: "We love her." Added Salleh, "I really miss her. I want to thank all those people who cared for me during that one year." Those days when he needed lots of assistance are all a distant past, today he is out and about, and happy about it. He joins his family in activities, including visiting the Singapore Flyer and going to Terengganu, Malaysia, to fish.

Though he no longer has outside assistance, he makes it a point to keep up with his leg exercises that the physiotherapist recommended. he supplements it with an occassional workout at the Fitness Corner near his block. This is a far cry from the earlier days and one that Salleh is more than happy to talk and smile about.