165- Dr. Richard Teo

Dr. Richard Teo Keng Siang, a cosmetic surgeon, managed to spread his message before succumbing to lung cancer in October 2012.

Dr. Richard Teo was a very successful cosmetic surgeon and a 40 year old millionaire living the life of the rich and famous. His life came to a screeching halt when he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.  He spent the rest of his limited time pondering about his life and concluded to a different definition of the meaning of happiness, morals and regrets.

Many times, the last few words of a person are the most inspiring and life changing ones. I believe it is because they are forced to think, ponder and reflect about the real priorities of life since they do not have the luxury of time as other normal people. I hope that we don’t have to wait til we come to the end of our lives that we stop living our lives ignorantly and foolishly. But learn our lessons from these brave people who had to experience unfortunate events that cut their lives short, but wise enough to change their ways in the end.

Read the article  of his last speech to a class full of future dental surgeons on 19th January 2011, about 10 months after his diagnosis. He died on 18th October 2012.

(Huệ Hương ST)