Galvin Sng was alone in his ice cream shop on the morning of August 13 last year when he suddenly felt a sense of heaviness on the left side of his body.

“I had never felt anything like that before,” said the 44-year-old, who runs Ketojiak, a keto-friendly ice cream parlour. “It started from my head, then I felt my gait becoming unstable and then I felt my body losing control.”

Sensing that something was wrong, he hurried to text his wife, Charmaine.

Then a part-time teacher, she often did not look at her mobile phone for hours while in class. But that morning, she happened to see Galvin’s messages. They alarmed her.

A screenshot of the messages Galvin and Charmaine exchanged when he suffered a stroke.

“He doesn’t make spelling mistakes. And, together with him saying he was ‘losing sensation’, it was a clear red flag,” said the 42-year-old, adding that Galvin has a family history of stroke.

The best place for the worst thing

Charmaine’s first priority was to get an ambulance to her husband. But she knew that Galvin had locked himself in the shop, as was his usual practice when he was working by himself.

“She asked me if I could open the back door, but I told her I couldn’t move,” said Galvin, who had slumped to the floor by then. 

CCTV footage of SCDF first responders tending to Galvin at his Owen Road shop.

Here is where Charmaine saw the first instance of divine providence.

Galvin had collapsed at their shop, which was only about a seven-minute drive to the nearest hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH). Not only that, TTSH is also one of the best hospitals for stroke care.

Had he been stricken any earlier, he would have been home in the north-west of Singapore. It would have taken him more than half an hour in rush-hour traffic to reach the hospital.

Friends who showed up

Charmaine’s next priority after calling 995 was to get someone to tend to Galvin until the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) arrived.

“I thought of getting the neighbouring shop owner, but she was not at the shop. One of the employees who lived nearby was in school. Just then, my best friend replied to a WhatsApp message. I immediately called her to help.”

She was much nearer to TTSH than Charmaine. They decided that it would be best if Charmaine’s friend met Galvin at the hospital.

“It was divine because she was able to get herself into the queue so that by the time I arrived, I didn’t have to queue to get Galvin registered,” recalled Charmaine.

As Charmaine made her way to the hospital, she called a church friend, Gareth Thomas, for prayer support. His name naturally came to mind as she and Galvin had recently met up with Gareth and his wife Teresa.

(Left to right) Galvin, Charmaine, Teresa and Gareth. The couples are close friends from church.

“Our church family is one where people show up when you need them,” said Charmaine, who worships with her family at Community of Praise Baptist Church.

As Gareth prayed for Galvin, he had a vision of what was happening to Galvin. 

“He also saw that there was a blockage in his shoulder, something was stopping the blood flow. He prayed against it. And then he updated that he saw an angel with Galvin,” said Charmaine.

He also gave an almost blow-by-blow account of the paramedics’ actions as they tended to Galvin, which really put Charmaine’s heart at ease as she raced to be by her husband’s side.

By then, the church had started praying for Galvin, who had managed to alert them to his condition via WhatsApp.

Said Charmaine: “I was definitely scared because he is the most important person to me – my husband, the father of my children. But though I was scared, I was not overwhelmed by fear. I was actually very, very calm.”

Trained for trials

Charmaine attributes this “calm spirit” to God and how He had been preparing her for difficulties.

Three months before, her grandmother who lives in Sydney suddenly became very ill and was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). She was 86. The family flew to be by her bedside.

Charmaine’s grandmother ill in Australia.

“My grandma was on her deathbed. But we prayed and interceded,” said Charmaine. Her grandmother eventually pulled through and has since recovered.

In the midst of the situation with her grandmother, Charmaine had her own health scare: “I discovered a lump in my left breast that was oozing pus and blood.”

A few days before a mammogram, Charmaine and Galvin had dinner with Gareth and Teresa.

“They said, ‘We are going into praise and worship.’ During that, a prayer arose within me to declare, ‘Satan, if you think this is going to put us down, scare us and intimidate us, you are wrong. You are waking up the army of God to know how strong we are,” recalled Charmaine.

By the time of the mammogram, everything had cleared up – no pus, no blood. Scans also showed nothing abnormal. This was a few weeks before Galvin’s stroke.

The night before the stroke, Charmaine was in a conversation with a friend when she was reminded of Psalm 27:5. Looking back, she believes it was the Holy Spirit steadying her for what was to come and assuring her that God was in control.

“After what we had gone through, we had the assurance that no matter what, we are secure. God is with us. Whether he goes or I go, we are already secure,” said Charmaine.

“So I didn’t have a conversation with God about ‘why’. It was very clear: My job was to pray over the situation. If there are evil forces, we put a stop to it. If doctors are dealing with it, we pray for wisdom.”

Fully restored  

Meanwhile, as Galvin waited for help to come, trying and failing to move the left side of his body, he called out to God for help.

“I wasn’t scared. I just kept thinking: ‘Is this true?’ But I have always known God as a faithful God.”

Galvin was conveyed to the hospital in 20 minutes, well within what is known as the “golden hour” – the first 60 minutes after stroke symptoms appear. If treatment is administered within this hour, the survival rate with minimal long-term disability significantly improves.

Because Galvin received treatment within the “golden hour”, he recovered quickly and fully.

At the hospital, an MRI revealed that there was a clot on the right side of his brain. He was given medication to clear it.

When Charmaine finally got to see him, the left side of his face was droopy. He also could not move the left side of his body and had trouble speaking. But by the end of the visit, he could wiggle the toes on his left foot.

“We rejoiced,” said Charmaine.

The church prayed for him throughout the crisis, even going so far as to organise a Zoom prayer meeting for him.

Within a week, Galvin was discharged and fully healed.

Galvin walking out of the hospital on the day of his discharge.

Charmaine said: “For someone with a full-blown stroke to walk out of the hospital within a week, fully mobile, it is definitely from God.”

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