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HONG KONG: "Relax," Michael Fan urges friends when they encounter difficulties.

Coming from Fan, the admonition becomes persuasive, even reassuring, for he is a young man who has overcome many difficulties.

Fan was born in 1979 with Down Syndrome. Aside from cognitive impairment, he was afflicted with congenital heart disease, myopia, cataracts and hernia. His IQ was measured at only 59, 41 points below what IQ tests classify as "average" intelligence.

Fan became a Special Olympics swimming champion despite all those handicaps and to those who know him, an inspiration.

The breakthrough

Fan started swimming when he was nine, said his mother Angela Huang. She got him started in the hope the exercise would improve his health.

Swimming proved to be the catalyst for the boy to make a breakthrough. For one thing, he found a social life outside home for the first time in his life. He discovered an activity he loved.

Learning to swim was not easy. It took Fan until the age of three before he could walk or talk. Learning to swim gave him the will and the grit, never to give up.

If Fan made a decision to do something, he kept trying until he succeeded. "For example, we planned to swim the day before yesterday. It was a holiday and we slept late. He insisted on swimming first, even if he had to skip breakfast," said his mother.

His persistence in achieving goals has earned him a place as a trusted and valued employee where he works.

After graduating from Taipei School of Special Education, Fan worked as a cleaner, a car washer, receptionist, junior clerk and technician. Invariably, his job performances were praised by supervisors.

At the trading company where he worked for eight years, Fan became so good at taking care of bank errands that his employer's competitors tried to poach Fan into their employ.

An inspiration

In 2007, Huang published a book about her experience raising a Down Syndrome child. The book sold more than 7,000 copies and the mother and son were invited to speak before 156 schools and organizations.

Fan's love for life is loud and clear when he talks about swimming: "Swimming makes me healthy, teaches me to persevere. It's a great rehabilitation and I received so much help from people in the process. Through the speaking, I hope I can spread the message of valuing life and never giving up.

The message seems especially meaningful these days. Taiwan has the worst unemployment problem in its modern history.

The problem caught Fan in its wake. He was laid off by the firm that employed him as a technician. Fan's not idling away though. He is busy, striving to achieve new goals - "such as installing a new light to his bicycle or taking a trip in Eastern Taiwan," his mother said. "He gives himself a little hope everyday, then persists until it's fulfilled."

"It's beautiful when you have a dream, even if it's a humble dream," Fan said.

CNA contributed to the story

(HK Edition 05/26/2009 page2)