Guy meets random stranger whose life story shames all of us

We cross paths with hundreds of strangers a day, but how many do we strike up a conversation with? For many, it's close to zero.

Maybe we feel awkward. Or maybe it's because we don't want to be creepy. Some of us might even be afraid of getting STOMP-ed. But as one man discovered this week, an unexpected chat with a stranger can end up as a source of life-changing inspiration.

A Twitter user Minionman posted a Twitter thread on June 18 chronicling his encounter on MRT with a stranger who had complimented him on his shirt. He initially felt that the stranger was "kinda off" but something compelled him to stay and talk.

This stranger turned out to be Takalah Tan, a traumatic brain injury survivor. True to his name, which means "can't lose" in Malay, Tan has a truly inspiring and winning story to tell.

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THE ACCIDENT

In 1994, Tan Kok Liang was in the prime of his life.

He was a bright young man who lived life to the fullest. According to a feature by Successpedia Asia, he was a commando, lightweight boxing champion, cross-country runner and swimmer. He had graduated from the National University of Singapore and was set to start work at a multinational company.

Just a week before he was due to start work, the unthinkable happened - Tan got into a motorcycle accident.

He collided with a police car on an expressway and was flung 70m. Hitting the ground without his helmet, he lost all his brain water and, according to another feature on the Singapore Red Cross website, one third of his blood.

He also dislocated his left shoulder, fractured three of the ribs on his right side and completely fractured and shortened his right shin by 1.5 inches.

His neurosurgeon told him that he had lost all of his memory and half of his brain.

RECOVERY AND GIVING BACK

True to his name "Takalah", which he started using in 1984, he kept trucking on.

One of the first things he did after the accident was to go to the library and read up on the human body.

"(Albert) Einstein, after his death, they researched on his brain. They found out that he used less than 10 per cent of his brain. That gave me hope," Tan told Successpedia Asia.

It was an uphill battle as Tan had to relearn the simplest things such as speech. Through sheer determination, he went back to studying and became a teacher just six years after the accident.

He also learnt how to swim again and said that he can swim two breadths of a pool with just one breath.

For Minionman, what stood out about his conversation with Tan was the latter's positivity.

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Minionman also went on to say that Tan is "humanity at its finest".

For a man who has been through so much, Tan is a remarkably giving person. Grateful for the blood transfusions that saved his life, he donates blood quarterly, clocking his 50th donation in 2016, according to Singapore Red Cross.

What started out as a random encounter ended with Minionman exchanging contacts with Tan to find out more about how he could help with the many causes that Tan champions.

kimberlylim@asiaone.com