Dr Preima Doraisamy shares her story of God’s miraculous healing from a coma with Methodist Message.
Preima Doraisamy was born in 1946 to a family of faithful believers spanning generations. Her father, Theodore Royapan Doraisamy, was Bishop of The Methodist Church in Malaysia and Singapore from 1973 to 1976. Hers was a close-knit household where the family sang hymns and prayed together nightly, with her mother doing daily devotions with the children in the taxi ride to school. Young Preima attended Tamil Methodist Church at Short Street, where her father was the pastor.
Following her primary and secondary school education at Methodist Girls’ School, Dr Doraisamy attended pre-university at Anglo-Chinese School where she enrolled in the Medicine Class. She went on to Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore, India to train to become a doctor. On her return to Singapore, Dr Doraisamy was posted to the Rehabilitation Unit at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, a job which she approached with much reluctance and which she initially sought to leave.
But God had other plans for her. In her autobiography, Before and Beyond Coma: Memoirs of a Victim, she writes, “I had changed my mind. I had started to love rehabilitation medicine …”1
Subsequently, Dr Doraisamy embarked on specialist training in rehabilitation centres in England and Scotland, becoming the third person and first woman in Singapore to specialise in this area of medicine. She says, “I considered myself an expert in brain injury because there was no one else here at that time who was interested.” Among her accomplishments was developing the Coma Arousal Programme to expose patients to stimuli to trigger their senses of touch, smell, taste and vision, with the intention of aiding brain recovery. All this became significant years later when she herself suffered injury to the brain.
Going under the knife for a brain tumour
Things changed in 2014 when Dr Doraisamy was found to have a vestibular schwannoma, or in layman’s terms, a brain tumour. She underwent gamma knife radiosurgery for the tumour. Before undergoing radiosurgery for the brain tumour in 2014, she prepared her will, Lasting Power of Attorney and an Advanced Medical Directive with a “Do Not Resuscitate” order.
When the tumour recurred, she had to undergo open surgery to excise it in 2016. Unfortunately, it led to complications including meningitis and seizures. Her medical reports described her as being “left with permanent disability due to brain stem stroke”.2
As result of the brain injury, Dr Doraisamy’s physical and cognitive functions were impaired. Her movements were weak and uncoordinated, and she became forgetful and confused. Surrounded by a supportive network of family and friends who lovingly cared for, encouraged and prayed with and for her, Dr Doraisamy spent almost five years in the daze of a coma. She herself became in need of the Coma Arousal Programme that she developed years earlier.
The lost years
“From February 2016 to December 2020 … These were the years that I lost. I have no memory of them except what I have been told in 2021 and 2022.”3
Dr Doraisamy was told that she had fluctuated from Coma I to Coma III; in other words, she was mostly unresponsive and would respond only at times. “I recognised visitors at times and was completely unaware at other times. I had a blank look on my face and my voice was like a child at times … I was totally dependent on my carers for mobility and all activities of daily living.”4
Those years were spent in hospitals and then a nursing home before Dr Doraisamy was able to return home.
Assessing her condition through a doctor’s eyes and based on medical reports and family members’ observations, she says, “Coma IV is when you are completely unaware. Coma III is when you respond to pain. Beyond that, you are only minimally conscious. I made my own diagnosis that I was actually fluctuating between all the stages. My friends and family say I used to talk to them and tell them things during those coma years but I cannot remember any of it.”
While in a coma, Dr Doraisamy came close to returning to the Lord as several medical close calls had her family prepared for the worst.
“I cannot explain it scientifically”
During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Dr Doraisamy’s condition deteriorated. Restrictions to hospital admissions because of the pandemic meant that she could not go to National University Hospital (NUH) where she usually went. She ended up at Changi General Hospital (CGH). There, she came under the care of Dr Chris Lien, a friend and former colleague.
Dr Lien took Dr Doraisamy off many of the medicines that she had been prescribed so that he could focus on treating the blood infection she was suffering from. She explains, “He decided not to put me back on the medicine for treating seizures. It was a risk that he took. That was divine intervention. I never had an epileptic fit after that. Instead, I awoke from my coma.”
Dr Doraisamy says, “Somehow, I was sent to CGH and Chris decided to take on my case. That, I feel, is where the miracle happened.”
Speaking as a doctor, Dr Doraisamy says, “I cannot explain it scientifically. It must be something greater. It can only be a miracle. I have treated a lot of patients in my career and I have never seen patients recover to this extent.” She continues, “I don’t know why God gave me that miracle and let me recover. Pastors I have spoken to say there would be a reason, but the fact remains that this was an answered prayer, and it is testimony of God’s power to heal. I am very grateful and in awe that it happened.”
Having awoken from her coma, Dr Doraisamy diligently applied herself to the myriad exercises needed for rehabilitation. As a rehabilitation physician, she knew very well what she needed to do to aid her recovery.
At 78, Dr Doraisamy has now recovered much of her memory, which she painstakingly regained by looking through old photographs and written records as well as having many conversations with family and friends. Much like the young woman she describes in her autobiography, she is still lively, quick-witted and gifted with a ready smile. Food is still something she enjoys, albeit with concessions made to her age rather than her medical history. She jokes, “I don’t know where my disability ends and old age starts.” She goes to the gym regularly and visits malls to window shop with the help of her personal mobility device. “I’m planning to travel to Vellore for my CMC reunion, God willing,” she says, as she continues to stay connected with friends and family in Singapore and around the world.
Returning to the question of God’s purpose for healing her, Dr Doraisamy, who currently joins online services at Barker Road Methodist Church, says, “My friend says my purpose is to give my testimony, to tell people about the miracle God did in my life.”
And sharing her story of God’s miraculous healing is just what Dr Preima Doraisamy now does.
1 Dr Preima Doraisamy, Before and Beyond Coma, Singapore: Preima Doraisamy, 2024, 60.
2 Dr Preima Doraisamy, Before and Beyond Coma, Singapore: Preima Doraisamy, 2024, 106.
3 Dr Preima Doraisamy. Before and Beyond, Coma Singapore: Preima Doraisamy, 2024, 104.
4 Dr Preima Doraisamy, Before and Beyond Coma,Singapore: Preima Doraisamy. 2024, 144.