By Charley Ho
Born with brittle bone, Nikita Tam shares her extraordinary journey of resilience and persistence.
Born with brittle bones and being wheelchair bound since she was a baby, Nikita Tam leads a life as a free spirit which helps her turn the impossible possible. She is a fast-food shop owner, a driver, an insurance agent and a diver.
Under 1.2 meters tall, it is beyond imagination how Tam works where heavy boxes of drinks and goods pile up in her eatery in San Po Kong.
“I usually ask delivery guys to help me stack the goods I order. I have to carefully plan the sequence, I definitely don’t want to put the best-selling items at the bottom,” she says.
Opened the fast-food shop in 2019, Tam operated the business entirely on her own until a loyal customer became her boyfriend and worked together with her after a year.
“My work used to be hellish. I stayed in my shop for more than 24 hours. I only slept on the kitchen counter at 5 or 6 a.m. when there weren’t many customers,” she recalls.
Though the business has not been profitable, Tam wins many friends.
“Instead of making money, I have made many heartfelt friends who are my customers. When I need help moving fridges, stacking boxes and filling bottles of herbal tea, I call them over and offer free beers in exchange,” she says.
It is the very spirit that helps Tam overcome difficulties in life. She was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, commonly known as brittle bone disease. Her left arm is the only intact limb she has, while her legs and right arm remain fragile.
“When I was an infant, I couldn’t stop crying when a nurse bathed me. Medical staff later found out my arm was broken. That’s when I was diagnosed with the disease,” she recalls.
“I broke my legs and my arm every month when I was a kid. The worst case was when I got scared watching TV and ended up breaking my bones,” she shares.
“My spine collapsed and turned into an S shape. The pain was so unbearable that I thought of committing suicide,” she adds.
Due to her condition, Tam lived with her relatives in mainland China and did not attend school until she was aged 10 or 11.
“My bones were too fragile. My mother had to take care of my younger brother, and there weren’t many schools for disabled children at that time,” she explains.
Tam eventually joined SAHK Jockey Club Elaine Field School at the age of 11, a school for physically handicapped children, where she met her class teacher, Kwan Kam, whom she now refers to as Daddy.
Their bond has lasted nearly 30 years, and they still meet regularly.
Tam recalls she used to be quiet and she couldn’t understand why Kwan made students play a game about passing school bags around that she didn’t like his teaching at first.
But she found out Kwan is a trustworthy and helpful teacher later.
“My parents divorced when I was 18. Kwan gave me his personal phone number and told me to call him whenever I needed help. One time, my father physically abused me. I called him for help. He comforted me and urged me to call the police,” she recalls.
“He just sat in silence and ate lunch with me to keep me company when I was upset about my parents’ divorce. He was never expressive, but I could feel his care. He is like the father figure in my life. He has taught me proper manners and shaped my personality which I couldn’t learn from my biological father ,” she says.
Beyond emotional support, Kwan encouraged Tam to learn swimming that became a turning point in her life.
“I didn’t want to learn swimming, but he forced me to. It took me three months to learn how to float in water. Everyone, including my mother, told me I couldn’t swim, but I proved them wrong,” she says.
Today, Tam can swim freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke.
“There are three important men in my life. Kwan, my class teacher, my swimming coach who didn’t give up on me, and my doctor who insisted on conducting my spinal surgery,” she says.
“I used to give up easily, but once I experienced the thrill of making everyone’s jaw drop, I have become addicted to that feeling of success. It’s true, success comes when you refuse to give in to failure,” she adds.
Tam didn’t stop there. She obtained two Professional Association of Diving Instructors licenses and earned a driving license in Hong Kong. “
Life is full of challenges to many, especially to Tam. She is forced to close her fast-food shop.
“The business now is worse than during the pandemic when most people were forced to stay home and order take-way food. It’s all very quiet now,” she says.
Tam has decided to shut her shop and shift gears. “I’m planning to work as a delivery courier with my boyfriend. But for now, I’ll take some time to rest before deciding my next steps,” she says.
“My dream is to enjoy diving in Palau and Australia one day,” she shares.
Sub-edited by Jen Lam
