It seems cancer is no longer mainly restricted to affecting people in the later years of their lives and knocks on the doors of younger and younger people.

My mom and god-mother had cancer so dealing with surgery, chemotherapy, subsequent monitoring and palliative care are things I’m familiar with. What I find challenging and sometimes inspiring is having to go through the process of dealing with the diagnosis and preparing for life-changes that need to take place with each friend who get’s told he or she has cancer.

My friend Ben is a healthy guy living in Taipei who has never smoked a cigarette in his 33 years and hits the gym now and then. He stays relatively healthy but his family has a history of cancer. He had been having an inflammation of his tongue for two months. He finally decide to get a series of tests done recently. Yesterday he went to get his results and was supposed to tell me how it went after the hospital visit. He “hmm” and “ahhed” when I checked in on him via MSN and that’s when a hunch told me that he had cancer.

I was correct. The doctor thinks it might be Stage 1 or 2 and he’s due to go for a complete series of tests come 18 Nov to see how much the cancer has spread and what the best course of treatment should be.

Ben is confident about the standards of medical care in Taipei and they are lucky enough to have social insurance which heavily subsidizes healthcare and treatment. That coupled with the insurance coverage he has and that the company took out for him means he doesn’t have to worry about a thing financially.

He’s a really positive person and upbeat about all that is happening. I admire his strength and the fact that he just accepts that this is one of the things that happens in life and is positive about coming out on top of this cancer.

We spoke about how he was going to schedule his surgery, treatment and recovery such that it would end just before I arrived in Taipei for my year end holiday. I guess he’s using my visit as a goal to set himself to get better. I told he’d better get better ’cause he’s promised to show me around and bring me to my first hot-springs in Taipei.

Cancer is becoming a really common thing and I guess the take away from all this is to get regular check-ups and to go see a reliable doctor when things unusual persist for longer than 1 or 2 weeks. You never can tell what it might be. Early detection can mean a whole world of difference in a quick recovery or prolonged periods of suffering.

http://jermyntoh.com/

We're raising money for Singapore Cancer Society to help under-privileged women.

Join these celebrities as they come together for a good cause and to raise awareness about cervical cancer:
- Najip Ali
- Karen Tan
- Selena Tan & Pam Oei of the Dim Sum Dollies
- Robin Goh & Kaiying from Jia 88.5FM
- Vogueliscious
- Sheik Haikel & Anna Belle Francis
- Geraldine See & Dominic Wong from Music Movement
- Justin Jap you saw him singing on TV recently



Every year 200 women in Singapore are diagnosed with cervical cancer and about 100 die from this disease. Together we can protect women we love and help decrease these numbers.

Mini-Concert & Fund-Raiser is at SMU's T-Zone fr 7pm-9pm this Friday, 16 Oct 2009,

Map of where SMU's T-Zone is: