Through Thick And Thin

Love is more than rose-tinted romance – it’s also about sticking together when things get rough. Three women open up about the hurdles they had to overcome with their spouses.

- Adora Wong

CHLOE TAN, 28, was diagnosed with bowel obstruction in January 2021 and underwent two emergency surgeries. She was worried that her condition would impact her relationship with her then-boyfriend Ang Jin Liat, but he demonstrated unwavering commitment and they recently married.

While pursuing her master’s degree in the Netherlands, Chloe started experiencing frequent abdominal pains that were accompanied by vomiting and gurgling noises from her stomach. The doctors at the local hospital repeatedly told her she had food poisoning and kept turning down her request to be warded, so after a week of excruciating pain, she decided to return to Singapore.

“The doctor at Changi Airport had me sent to Changi General Hospital immediately. I went through various X-rays and CT scans, and received the correct diagnosis with a need for emergency surgery,” she explains.

All was well for the first couple of days until she was informed that she was at risk of sepsis due to an infection – leakage had occurred because her intestines were not able to join properly. A second emergency surgery was scheduled to have a stoma created, and Chloe then spent the next month and a half on an IV drip. It was only a few months later that she underwent surgery for the third time to have the hole closed.

By then, she had been with her then-boyfriend for over a year and was in a long-distance relationship with him as he was working in Australia. Much as they were in a stable relationship, she still felt “a little guilty” as she knew that her health care would be very costly, and she needed a lot of support to help with her recuperation.