Local Influencer Melissa Koh's Late Son's Hospital Bills Came Up To Around S$700K, But She Is Not Looking For Donations

On April 7, Singaporean influencer Melissa Koh, 33, made an announcement no parent would ever want to. She revealed on her Instagram Stories that her second child, Asher Matthias Chen, had died.

Asher was born with a congenital heart condition, and had undergone three open heart surgeries by the time he turned one. He passed away two months before his second birthday. 

On Apr 8, Melissa’s pal, photographer Daryl Aiden Yow announced a crowdfunding campaign, in a bid to raise money for Asher’s “astronomically high” hospitalisation fees. 

Daryl had hoped to raise S$20K within the week, and wrote in his post that he had “thought long and hard” about starting the fundraiser.

“I feel it in my gut [that] it is the right thing to do. And if I receive backlash, so be it,” he continued. 

A day after the fundraiser was launched, Daryl announced on his IG story that he had already collected more than S$18K.

Yesterday (Apr 27), Melissa, who is nine months pregnant with her third kid, posted a statement on her IG story, explaining that she and her husband, James Chen, had never intended to fundraise for their Asher's hospitalisation bills. Melissa and James' eldest son Noah Tobias is three. 

She first thanked those who contributed to the fundraiser, and said that Daryl had passed her the amount that had been raised earlier in the week. 

She wrote: “We mentioned to him when he visited us at the wake that we were not keen to fundraise but he went ahead with it, out of the goodness of his heart, as he really felt like he couldn’t sit back and ‘do nothing’. He wanted to help in whatever capacity he could so he proceeded on his own accord. If you had donated, thank you for your generosity. I would like to reassure you that the entire amount collected will be going to Asher’s hospitalisation bills, and not used for anything else.”

She went on to reveal that the bill for Asher’s last admission to the hospital had amounted to "S$400-$500K", mainly because he was on ECMO (extracorporeal life support) for a month.

As Asher was born with heart problems, Melissa was not able to get him insured. According to her, maternity insurance “would not cover hospitalisation stays or conditions like Asher’s”. 

Melissa also revealed that she has outstanding bills from Asher’s previous stays in the hospital, which came up to ‘just under S$200K’. 

She went on to explain her reasons for admitting Asher into a private hospital. 

“His principal doctor who had seen him through the first three heart surgeries practises there and we are most confident with Asher being under his primary care. His life was hanging by a thread and we couldn’t bring ourselves to allow ‘costs’ to cloud our judgement as to where to send him,” she wrote. 

“For Asher, the answer was straight for James and I. We would do everything in our capacity to give Asher our best. We knew that the bills would be significant but we both agreed to bear it, entirely on ourselves,” she said.

In a following story, Melissa thanked those who have sent love her way via DMs. She said that there have been people who have been asking for her number so they could send her "‘white gold’ money", or condolence money, and contribute to Asher’s medical bills. 

Though both James and her are grateful for the “generous intentions”, she announced that they will not be fundraising or asking for any more donations. 

“Please support us through other means instead. We’ll be working our hardest to pay the bills over the years and we’re thankful for any work opportunities that come our way,” she reiterated.

According to her Instagram, Melissa has resumed her work posts, which include sponsored posts.

“It hasn’t been easy to transition back to work, but we are coping,” said Melissa in another one of her stories. 

Given their outstanding bills, it is completely understandable why Melissa and James have resumed as soon as they can. Need we also repeat that they have another baby on the way?

Though Melissa has received an outpouring of love, there were also not-so-savoury comments, accusing her of being “insensitive” towards her late son because of her sponsored posts. 

Many of her followers, however, have hit back at those haters, who we must say are the truly insensitive ones.

They advised the haters to be kinder to Melissa and her family, and asked that they “put [themselves] in her shoes”, and understand that it is possible for her to work, despite her grief.