SHAH ALAM: Veteran actress Datin Normala Omar, 59, may be bogged down by health problems, but she admits life is good as long as she can celebrate Hari Raya with her loved ones every year.
"My left eye's gone now, and I recently fractured my left leg falling off my bed, but my husband, five children and grandchildren have been by my side throughout these 'health scares' and made me cope with them," she said during a visit by Malaysian Artistes' Association (Karyawan) president Datuk Freddie Fernandez and committee member Rozita Rohaizad to her house in Denai Alam here today.
Freddie, who presented financial assistance to Normala on behalf of Karyawan, described her as an active longtime member of the association who is well-respected by its members.
"Despite her illness, Normala has kept abreast with developments in entertainment and given her moral support towards the association's activities.
"We are also glad to hear that her husband Datuk Zulkifli Zain is recuperating well following a heart attack last April."
The couple's eldest daughter, theatre producer, director and lecturer Norzizi Zulkifli said her mother fractured her left leg after falling off her bed on June 15. The incident happened about 5am and she spent three weeks in Sungai Buloh Hospital.
"She underwent surgery and doctors inserted a metal rod into her leg," said Norzizi.
Norzizi's younger sister, Norzaza said their mother suffered blindness in her left eye and blurred vision in her right eye as a result of complications from diabetes in 2010. She had been diagnosed as a diabetic by doctors that year.
"She underwent surgery on her right eye and this alleviated her blurred vision in April 2010. As for the surgery to her left leg, it took place on July 1, three days before she was discharged from hospital."
Zulkifli, 70, who gained popularity through 1980s tear-jerker Sayang Anakku Sayang, suffered a heart attack on April 19 and was hospitalised at Kuala Lumpur Hospital for a month.
He had earlier suffered a stroke on Jan 12 which left him half-paralysed. He was treated at Tuanku Mizan Armed Forces Hospital in Wangsa Maju for two months.