SINGAPORE – While his peers chased deadlines and internships, Samuel Chew, 26, cooked, cleaned and took his mother to medical appointments.
The first-year environmental earth systems science student at Nanyang Technological University took a semester off from January to April to care for his 60-year-old mother, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in early 2026.
It was not his first experience as a caregiver. Chew had looked after his late father, who had a neurological disorder that led to dementia. His father died at the age of 64 in October 2025.
Caregiving is not a burden forced upon him but a conscious choice, the young undergraduate told The Straits Times in April at his family’s five-room flat in Woodlands.
“Being there for my dad gave me a different perspective to life,” he said thoughtfully. “One semester doesn’t mean that much compared to being there for my mom in her time of need. I can always go back to school again.”
NTU undergraduate Samuel Chew with a photo of him and his late father taken during a trip to Bukit Timah Hill. Chew was a caregiver to his father, who died in October 2025.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
While there are no official figures on caregivers under 35 in Singapore, social service organisations say young caregivers like Chew are likely to become increasingly common.
TOUCH Caregivers Support Group’s (TCG) Care Line receives about 120 calls each month, up to 10 per cent of which are from young caregivers inquiring about their parents or children.
Other organisations that ST contacted did not specifically track the number of caregivers under 35.
But chief executive Abhimanyau Pal of SPD, a charity that serves people with disabilities, said that with couples having children later and an ageing population, more young adults may find themselves taking on caregiving roles earlier, particularly for ageing parents.
At the cusp of starting families and careers, young caregivers may have to make difficult trade-offs due to caregiving responsibilities, he said.
June Sim, who heads TCG, said: “The lack of confidence and preparedness can also affect caregivers psychologically and emotionally as some are thrust into their caregiving roles overnight.”
Chew was only 13 in 2013 when his father was diagnosed with Fahr’s syndrome, a rare disorder caused by an abnormal build-up of calcium in the brain that may lead to movement disorders and dementia.
Symptoms first appeared when his father, a military camp chef, wore the wrong uniform to work. He eventually stopped working, and his mother, who wanted to be known only by her surname Hing, balanced caring for her husband with her waitressing job.
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