For Tee Poh Lian, she meant every single word. And that is why she stood by her husband, Poon Pok Keong, for 20 years when a sudden illness struck.

Wishing to publicly acknowledge her mother’s sacrifice, Ygene, Tee’s daughter, nominated her for the Women Glamour Award (WGA) last year, making her the oldest recipient to receive the award in the homemaker category.

“I was just a simple housewife, who did what I thought was the right thing, taking care of my sick husband,” Tee told FMT Lifestyle recently.

Tee, 83, said she met her husband through a friend and recalled going on many double dates back then. After about seven or eight years, the couple married, and had four kids together.

Born during World War Two, Tee was deprived of an education. “My husband finished primary school, and he would teach me how to identify basic letters and read the newspapers.”

All the same, life was good for Tee and her family, until Poon was struck with a sudden mystery illness.

It started with a headache, which quickly snowballed into severe memory loss and an inability to care for himself, all in the span of a single day.

Speaking about her father’s mystery illness, Ygene said: “I was only about 10 years old when that happened, and my mom, who was always elegant and graceful in other people’s eyes, aged 10 years in two months.”

In fact, it was a trying time for everyone in the family as they tried to figure out what had happened to Poon.

When doctors were unable to diagnose his illness, Tee took her husband to see Chinese medicine practitioners. When that didn’t work, she made appointments for him to see priests and even a bomoh. No one could explain what happened to him.

Ygene said that thanks to her mother’s tenacity and her elder brothers’ love, the family was able to overcome many obstacles along the way.

Through it all, Tee never left her husband’s side. Except for one occasion when her kids insisted she take an overnight trip to Penang for a much-needed break.

“But after lunch and a short visit to the Kek Lok Si Temple, her heart had already flown back to my dad so we caught a flight back home,” Ygene said.

In his final years, Poon even lost his sight due to brain atrophy and a maid was hired to care for him full-time. Still, Tee was adamant about doing most of the work herself, driven by her deep love for her husband, until his passing in 2009.

“I felt that it was important to be his companion, even when he no longer recognised anything. Despite his occasional temper, we had never argued since the first day we were together,” Tee recalled, with both love and sadness in her eyes.

When her sons went overseas for work, Ygene, 45, became her mother’s steadfast companion, watching over her in their absence.

“I brought her with me everywhere I could, even to casual business meetings. People I meet say she’s practically my shadow!” Ygene said, laughing.

The mother and daughter went on many overseas trips together as well, travelling to China, Europe and Iceland. Once, they stayed in New York for an entire year.

“The older I grow, the more I admire her. She’s truly the toughest person I know and the best mother I could ask for.”

If Tee’s story inspires you to recognise the women in your life, submit your nominations to this year’s WGA here.