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Personal Experience of a Cancer Victim
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On the fateful day, 29 January 1996, my late mother was diagnosed of
colon cancer (stage III) with a poor prognosis of less than one year.
It was certainly bad news for everyone of us in her family.
My mother being a stoic and strong-willed person accepted the reality
and began her tough battle against cancer. During her illness of 3 years
and 8 months, the cancerous cells spread to her lungs, bronchus, lymph nodes,
brain and bones. Despite her condition, she led a fairly good quality of
life and lost control of her life just two days before she slipped into coma
and passed away two weeks later. Her death came all too suddenly as the doctors
had failed to detect new metastases in her brain.
Most doctors felt that she had lived beyond medical expectation.
Hence I reckon that it will useful to share with you how my mother coped
with her illness.
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| Hope |
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My mother believed that she could be cured and thus endured what was necessary
in coping with cancer.
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| Faith |
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My mother was a staunch believer in Taoism and prayed to the Gods for
strength and healing. She felt energetic and relieved after each prayer.
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| Courage and Determination |
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Each time when the disease spread to new spots, she felt disturbed and
depressed. Nevertheless, she accepted the reality and received treatments
at the expense of losing her crowning glory and coped with side-effects
and discomfort. Despite the bitterness of Chinese medicine, she had never
stopped taking them throughout her illness.
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| Attitude |
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She accepted death as a part of life and made sure that she completed all
her unfinished business. If she survived, that would be great. If she lost
the battle against cancer, she would die peacefully.
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| Love and Support |
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She counted her blessings and was contented to be supported by her children.
She treasured every day and every moment she had with her ten grandchildren
to find joy and happiness as a trade-off for the pains and discomfort from her treatment.
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| Her philosophies of life |
- The quality of life is more important than quantity of life
- Each day of life is a Gift from God
- Live your life to the fullest by being forgiving, truthful and helpful to others
- Every one of us cannot escape death, life is never perfect
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w.e.f. 1 Jan 2023.