Amazing people in the news

Many of the patients who undergo cancer treatment in their childhood end up with strength and wisdom far beyond their years. Many of these children (and adults) often find themselves into the news or in media as a natural consequence of this. There are many examples of this but we can really only show examples who have declared in the media their conditions. Their stories should serve as inspirations to us all.

Michelle Liew ~ Osteosarcoma

This article about Michelle chronicles her life and and struggles with osteosarcoma. She has gained great inner strength in managing herself and in changing her outlook on life. Typically many of the survivors of this disease develop a very mature outlook on life.

Indah Melati ~ Ewing's Sarcoma

Indah had a really difficult course with Ewing's Sarcoma of the hip which cruelly presented on New Year's Day 2012. She went on to write a book about her experiences which is actually very well written by her biographer Feby Indirani. I was very supportive when she asked me about writing this book - it is a very rare and selfless undertaking by someone who wishes very much to benefit others. The book is available on Amazon.com

Megan Chew ~ Osteosarcoma

Megan is a lovely girl with osteosarcoma who had a bone transplant. At the time she needed a special drug which was not available in Singapore and I had gotten her in touch with my dear friends in MD Anderson in Houston Texas who kindly acceded to giving her the drug. Since then the drug has become available for use in Singapore, partially because of her experience. She's a hero!

Agnus Tung ~ Osteosarcoma

Agnes is quite the remarkable girl. She has never let life get her down and won an award for her remarkable writing skills. She was featured again in an article where it was revealed that she had an extremely rare genetic disorder in addition to her osteosarcoma.....she is by definition the most unique of the rare!

Roger Kool ~ Osteosarcoma

Roger Cool was a DJ I grew up listening to. He was blind but overcame this obstacle to become one of the most famous radio personalities of his time. I chanced upon this newspaper article which detailed his medical conditions. He apparently had Retinoblastoma (a cancer of the eyes) and lost both his eyes. Such patients are prone to developing osteosarcoma due to the genetic aberrations involved. This ultimately claimed him at the age of 51. This is my homage to a special man.

Ezzy Wang ~ Chondrosarcoma

This is an article of a patient who had lost a leg to cancer. He never let this get him down and continued to excel in everything he did. A subsequent article of him actually featured his success at getting married. A true survivor.

Chia Ying Wen ~ Osteosarcoma

Ying Wen was one of the first patients in Singapore who had a limb salvage procedure with a new implant. He was a top student and he never let cancer take that away from him scoring 7A's in the 'O' levels despite taking some time off school.

Zijia ~ Osteosarcoma

Zijia is a top student and only child who received a limb salvage procedure. He was the captain of the National Chess Team and continues to blaze the trails with his remarkable intellect stating here that something as tragic as a cancer affecting the limb should not affect scholarly pursuit.

Sri Ramana Maharshi ~ Soft tissue sarcoma

Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) is widely acknowledged as one of the outstanding Indian gurus of modern times. In November 1948, a tiny cancerous lump was found on Ramana's arm and was removed in February 1949. Soon, another growth appeared and another operation was done by an eminent surgeon in March 1949 with radium applied. The doctor told Ramana that a complete amputation of the arm to the shoulder was required to save his life, but he refused. A third and fourth operation were performed in August and December 1949, but only weakened him. Other systems of medicine were then tried; all proved fruitless.

Recurrent paediatric sarcomas in children in China ~ Documentary

Prof Suresh was featured in an article on salvaging recurrent tumors in children from China in this article in 2015 (http://www.yan.sg/qipanweizhengxibuzai/)

James Wong ~ Osteosarcoma

"Refusing the drastic measure of an amputation, James’ father decided to seek a second opinion from other medical professionals. Eventually, he found a surgeon experienced in re-sectioning, reconstructing and preserving joints, who performed a surgery to remove the tumorous bone from James’ leg."