SEREMBAN: Every year, Rachel Wong prepares for another hospital appointment. The 47-year-old knows the routine well by now. So does her mother, a retired nurse who still insists on accompanying her despite being nearly 80.
“I tell her she doesn’t need to come anymore. She’ll just say, ‘I want to accompany you.’ She wants me to know that I can lean on her,” the Kuala Pilah native told FMT Lifestyle.
It is a ritual that has lasted more than a decade, forged through operating theatres, chemotherapy wards and anxious waits for biopsy results.
Looking at Wong today, it would be difficult to guess what she has endured. She swims regularly, works part-time in accounts, and carries herself with an easy smile.
What many people do not realise is that she has survived not one, but three cancers.
“The hardest part wasn’t losing my hair,” said Wong, who holds a degree in finance. “It was wondering whether life would ever be the same again.”
Months after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 2013, Wong discovered a small lump during a routine self-examination after a swim – despite being in the best shape of her life.
The diagnosis was triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease, and it came as a complete shock.
“I was active. My mum made sure we had a balanced diet growing up. I kept thinking, ‘Everything was right. What went wrong?’” said the second of three sisters.
Treatment quickly became her new normal. Every three weeks brought another chemotherapy session, followed by pain, exhaustion and nights when sleep refused to come.
“There were nights when I cried and couldn’t sleep because of the medication,” she recalled. Yet even during chemotherapy, Wong became known among the nurses for arriving with a smile.
“I would walk into treatment cheerfully. Afterwards, I’d be so weak I could barely walk, but somehow I still wanted to smile.”
That optimism would be tested repeatedly. Months after completing treatment, doctors discovered thyroid cancer.
Wong vividly remembers breaking down when she heard the diagnosis. “My hair had just started growing back,” she said. “I cried and asked, ‘Why? What is happening? One after another?’”
It was her breast surgeon who gently pulled her back from despair.
“You’ve been such a positive patient all this while,” the doctor reminded her. “Why become so negative now?”
Wong agreed to another operation and, for almost 10 years, it seemed as though the worst was finally behind her.
Then, during a routine scan in 2024, doctors found several suspicious nodules in her breast. This time, she felt she could not continue.
“Before the biopsy results came back, I told my mum that if it was cancer again, I didn’t want treatment anymore,” she said. “I felt so defeated.”
Sitting in her oncologist’s consultation room, Wong broke down once more. “I told the doctor I’d already gone through so many operations. I didn’t know if I could do it again.”
The doctor did not argue. “He just held my hand and let me cry.”
When the tears subsided, he offered just one sentence: “Let’s take one step at a time.”
For Wong, those words were enough. She underwent a total mastectomy, followed by another 15 rounds of radiotherapy.
Today, life has settled into a gentler rhythm. She swims, albeit more slowly than before, continues helping with accounts part-time, and faithfully returns for her annual reviews.
Her mother remains beside her, refusing to let her face another hospital corridor alone.
Looking back, Wong said the greatest lesson was not about courage, but about allowing others to carry you when you no longer have the strength to carry yourself.
For anyone facing a similar diagnosis, her advice is simple. “Medical treatment has advanced so much compared with 10 years ago. Just give yourself a chance. Don’t give up.”
