S'porean ex-cancer patient with no kidneys overcomes hurdles to pursue undergrad studies

After her kidneys failed when she was 14 years old, a Singaporean girl had to undergo dialysis even as she just started her junior college studies. 

Unfortunately, tragedy struck when she was diagnosed with cancer, and both her kidneys had to be removed.

This year, she’s heading back to school to complete her degree, reports Shin Min Daily News via Lianhe Zaobao. 

The now 25-year-old student said that when she was 14 years old she was diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome, causing a her kidneys to fail.

She had to undergo dialysis to survive. 

The optimistic individual told reporters that her body displayed abnormal symptoms such as a sudden drop in body weight and a persistent flu that would not subside before she was formally diagnosed with the condition:

“My family doctor suspected that there was something wrong with my kidneys and transferred me to a hospital for a more thorough checkup.”

At that point of time, she was still a secondary school student in Nanyang Girls' High School but she did not want to give up her studies even after knowing about her condition. 

Under encouragement from her parents, teachers and fellow classmates,  she did marvellously for her O-Levels examinations and got into Hwa Chong Junior College:

“My teachers even gave me one-to-one tuition sessions after school.

“I’m truly grateful to them.”

After graduating from junior college, she went on to study graphic design at the Lasalle College of the Arts. 

However, her conditions started worsening two to three years ago, and she later found out that she had kidney cancer.

Thus she needed to undergo a operation to remove the malignant tumour and her kidneys.

Several months after the operation, the cancer relapsed, this time in her liver and back, and she chose to enter hospice care to manage her condition. 

She explained that she had chosen hospice care to elevate her standard of living and for the past two to three years, she had to undergo thorough screenings every month and dialysis three times a week. 

During her last screening, there were no indication of cancer cells, and the cancer was in remission. 

She foresees that she will be able to return to the college this year to finish her undergraduate studies.