“My name is Staci Tan and I am 26 this year. I was 25 when I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer.
A few months into my job in a media agency as a media planner, I was sent for a medical check up where subsequently I was diagnosed.
The tumour was as big as my fist and it was removed alongside 27cm of my colon. I was in hospital for 10 days and took 6 weeks off work for recovery. This was in January 2016.
In March 2016, I started 12 cycles of chemotherapy every 2 weeks. I did not stop work because it was manageable.
Working actually helped me feel normal, because sitting at home just wasn’t doing me any good.
One week I would go for chemo and the second week I would go back to work.
The first week after chemo, for the first two days I would feel really tired and don’t feel like working but by the third day I actually felt like I could get the hang of it.
Work gave me a sense of normalcy and it helped me to recover.
This lasted till sept 2016. You will find a scar at my collarbone – this is the chemo port.
Nurses put in the needles into the port under my skin to conduct chemotherapy. I still have it with me till today; the doctor wants me to keep it up to five years, just in case.
Until I surgically remove it, I have to flush it at the hospital every 3 months.
I feel more normal every day, and sometimes forget about the cancer experiences I had to go through.
But I wouldn’t say I’ve moved on. It gets more infrequent but sometimes you just have a dilemma whether to push your limits or to hold back your ambitions.
I guess that’s the struggle for young cancer survivors. We’re too young to retire and have a lot of things that we still want to achieve but we’re afraid if pushing the limits will cause a relapse.
I find it kind of funny but I felt most blessed and lucky when I was diagnosed with cancer.
There were many things to be thankful about — being diagnosed before it spread further, having just enough insurance coverage for the treatment, meeting great doctors, having a good job, having supportive bosses and colleagues, family to take care of me, lovely friends to check on me and many more.
When my colleagues or friends hear of my cancer stories, they would say “you’re so strong”, and I always hesitate to reply because I think everyone has their own stories of being strong. Mine happens to be cancer.
For others, it may be depression, body image issue, or family affairs. We all have stories of strength in our own ways. Stay strong. You never know who you’re inspiring”.
– Humans of Kuala Lumpur went down and spoke with a trio of female cancer survivors from the National Cancer Society Malaysia. These are their stories.
Staci runs her own personal blog documenting her journey, visit it at https://kyension.com/
