After going through a series of tests, she was diagnosed with nasal cancer.
With last month being Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Ms Stefanie Loh, now 28, said the news she received more than a decade ago as a Secondary 3 student turned her world upside down.
She told The New Paper: “It happened so suddenly and I was so lost. I never thought that a child could get cancer. There were no symptoms, other than frequent headaches which I attributed to stress.”
Just a few days after her diagnosis, Ms Loh was rushed for surgery to remove a tumour, after which she slipped into a coma. When she woke up, she had difficulties eating, speaking and swallowing, because the operation was done through her mouth.
She said: “That period of time was traumatic for me.”
Over four months, she had to go through 35 sessions of radio therapy treatment, which caused her to experience nausea, hair loss and ulcers, and she could eat only mainly soft food.
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