For 39-year-old Penangite Agatha Yu, it is a way of life.
As a former Penang state badminton player, Agatha trained alongside Malaysia’s very own Lee Chong Wei when she was 15 years old.
Unfortunately, tragedy befell her as she lost her left leg in a car accident a year later and her dreams of being a professional badminton player were shattered into pieces.
Many would have wallowed in despair, mourning the loss of their leg. But not Agatha.
With the support of her family members, especially her mother, she set her sights on a new goal – to climb Mount Everest.
“In 2012, one of my friends took his own life because he was suffering from depression and I have personally gone through depression so I understand the importance of support,” she told FMT.
Agatha added that she wanted to use herself as an example to show others that although she had lost so much, she was still strong and could face any obstacle.
Bracing harsh weather and aided by crutches, she managed to climb to the Everest base camp, which is 5,200m above sea level.
This is no small feat even for the ordinary person, but through sheer determination, willpower and an amazing show of strength, Agatha reached her destination.
Following that, Agatha took up a job in an events company and climbed another kind of mountain – that of the corporate ladder.
In 2015, however, life threw her another curveball: she was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy – a result of damage to the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord that causes pain, weakness and numbness in her leg.
She left her job, realising that it was causing unnecessary stress and pursued her secret passion – singing and busking.
“At the beginning, I was busking at the bus stop opposite Berjaya Times Square and then in shopping malls. Before the Movement Control Order (MCO), I was performing at Sunway Giza and Sunway Nexis.”
Unfortunately, the surge in Covid-19 cases and the implementation of the MCO meant that Agatha had to put her busking gig on hold and look for an alternative.
And so, she found herself in the kitchen, apron-clad, dusted in flour and baking up a storm.
“I learned how to bake from my schoolmate’s mother back in Penang; they used to own a bakery,” explained Agatha.
From crunchy chocolate chip cookies, heavenly cakes, melt-in-your-mouth egg tarts to comforting chicken pies, Agatha bakes it all and is now taking in orders for Chinese New Year.
On her Chinese New Year menu are her rich pineapple tarts, chocolatey Almond Londons, beautiful red velvet cookies, golden butter cookies and chocolate chip crunchies.
Each tub goes for RM25 and the customer favourites have been the pineapple tarts and the chocolate chip crunchies.
Agatha explained that she managed to sell more than 120 tubs of cookies last year but she is worried that the pandemic might be a problem for her small baking business this year.
“With the ongoing MCO, people would try to bake cookies at home and this might result in fewer orders this year,” she said.
She has also collaborated with a group of single mothers to launch her baking business, so if more orders were to come in, she would be able to share her orders with them.
“It’s a lot of work to bake especially if I receive a lot of orders. Thankfully, I met these ladies through a programme. Some of them are bakers so it’s nice to spread the orders among us.”
Agatha, who volunteers at the Tong Sim Senior Citizen Care Centre in Salak Selatan, added that people can also order her cookies to be sent to old folks’ homes or to orphanages, and she would be more than happy to ‘bake’ it happen.
So, if you’re looking to stock up your home with delicious cookies for Chinese New Year, help out a fellow Malaysian and place your orders with Agatha, and have them delivered to you anywhere within the Klang Valley.
To place an order with Agatha, you can call or WhatsApp her at (016) 772 9613.