SINGAPORE – In September 2021, Ms Kwa Lay Teng, then 25, was nursing her four-day-old baby girl during confinement in her mother’s home when she got a call from her doctor.
“He told me: ‘Hi Lay Teng, I’m so sorry it is breast cancer. You need to stop breastfeeding now.’ I couldn’t stop crying. My husband was beside me, I didn’t even have to tell him what happened, he knew it was bad. He called my mum who came and took the baby away from me.”
She also had to induce menopause as her hormones fuelled her cancer, a rude shock to her dreams of raising a family of five with her husband.
“I was in denial... I worried if I would ever be normal again,” she said.
Almost two years on, her cancer is in remission but her fear – now of relapse – remains.
In October 2022, Ms Kwa joined a four-session emotional well-being programme her oncologist, Dr Karmen Wong, started a year earlier for breast cancer survivors, where she learnt to manage her fears.
The Zoom sessions are facilitated by breast cancer survivors and have helped 85 women in three runs since the programme was launched.
Dr Wong, who has worked with breast cancer patients for 30 years, said: “They are willing to go through a lot of treatment and lose their breasts and hair to live longer. After diagnosis, they say they are not the same as before, physically, emotionally and mentally... If you don’t deal with it, you will spiral down.”
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Singapore, where one in 13 will get breast cancer in their lifetime. Most of those diagnosed are above the age of 40.
At least 30 per cent to 40 per cent of early breast cancer cases face a high risk of recurring, according to Professor Lee Soo Chin from National University Cancer Institute, Singapore.
The course Dr Wong started teaches breast cancer survivors exercises to help them process their fear and grief, improve self-esteem and set habits to move forward in life.
Its lead facilitator, Ms Wendy Chua, who is trained in psychology, said she holds focus group sessions with the women, and introduces processes to help them open up and tell their stories, as well as acknowledge and reframe negative thoughts.
To some, like Ms Kwa, sharing what she has been through has not just helped her cope, but has also given her the satisfaction of giving other survivors strength. At first, she struggled to accept the fact she had stage 2B cancer.
She found lumps in her breast when she was 38 weeks pregnant and went for an ultrasound scan, but thought this was due to clogged milk ducts.
“I was resentful and afraid. I resented the fact that I have cancer... I was afraid that I might not wake up from closing my eyes. I was afraid that I’ll very soon not be there for my baby girl,” she shared on social media in March about how she felt when she heard the diagnosis in September 2021.
"breast" - Google News
May 22, 2023 at 04:00AM
https://ift.tt/nR0wNz6
'I worried if I would be normal again': Breast cancer at 25 made new mother rethink life - The Straits Times
"breast" - Google News
https://ift.tt/8TMoDgq
https://ift.tt/AWZS4LP
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "'I worried if I would be normal again': Breast cancer at 25 made new mother rethink life - The Straits Times"
Post a Comment