” RGS is raising funds to help a cancer-stricken ex-student Joan Chan Shu Fang (RGS 2002/RJC 2004) who was a Peer Support Leader and 1st sergeant in NCC and captain of the RJC softball team.

In 2005, Shu Fang was diagnosed with tongue cancer Stage 4 and as a result, gave up her place to study Architecture in NUS. She underwent surgery, after which she was treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. During a second operation on her shoulder, it was discovered that Shu Fang was suffering from skin cancer as well.

Unfortunately, chemotherapy has not worked and her situation has deteriorated. She has less than a year to live if treatment with a trial drug Iressa, fails. Iressa has shown to kill off some of the cancer cells but results are still inconclusive. The cost of Iressa is S$110.30 per tablet and she requires 2 tablets a day due to her worsening condition, bringing the total medical bill to a hefty S$6000 a month. This is a great financial burden to her family as her mother has had to quit her job to look after Shu Fang. Her father, a taxi driver, too has had to limit his working hours per day to watch over her in case of an emergency. RGS hopes to raise an amount of $36,000 to cover Shu Fang’s medical bills & treatment for 6 months.

If you feel moved to help give Shu Fang a shot at life, please issue your cheque to “RGS” and write “Chan Shu Fang Fund” at the back of the cheque, together with your name & contact address/e-mail. You can mail the cheque to RGS at 20 Anderson Road, Singapore 259978. Thank you. “

I am very lucky i realised, that i’m spared from all these illnesses. Nobody I know is dying too. I think it’s only when you encounter ppl like Joan, then u realise that the world is not so perfect after all. What spurred me to put this appeal here, is the very fact that Joan doesn’t give up easily. For someone her age, it is very ez to simply throw in the towel and que sera sera. Yet there she is, not giving on the slightest hope that one day she may get well, that one day she would be able to join her friends in university and lead a normal life.

Joan in her blog

…my options are limited and i just want to say my dear friends, i am prepared for the worst. but i want to thank all of you for your love and care. i will not give up till the very end and i hope i will be remembered in your hearts as a fighter always.

That pretty much sums up her attitude.

I plead with readers, to do what you all can. I personally dunno how much I can spare, probably a token sum. Every dollar, every cent counts here. You are not just helping her, but also her family, and possibly future cancer patients if a fund is set up in her name for that.

Extract from Funkygrad article that Joan wrote sometime back [click more for the full article]

Confessions of a teenage cancer patient Imagine having to cope with cancer at 18? This is one lesson no one will ever learn in school but it turned out to be the lesson of my life. In January 2005, I was diagnosed with metastatic squamous cell carcinoma on the left side on my tongue. In layman’s term, I had cancer, tongue cancer and it has already spread to the lymph nodes in my neck, causing an obvious lump that is visible from the outside. I used to wonder what my reaction would be if I was told that I had cancer. I thought I would cry, scream, go hysterical or maybe even pass out. But on that fateful day, all I could manage was to say, “Oh, ok. So now what?” The doctor then went on to explain about the surgery that I had to go through and the procedures involved but I could barely hear a single word he said. I could only hear my heart pounding and my mind trying to comprehend what he had told me five minutes ago. I had Cancer. How do you come to terms with such a big blow and severe dent to your body? I did not have an answer. I had to break the news to my family and friends. The magnitude of the situation really hit me when I had to declare to them that ‘I have cancer’ for the first time. That was the first time I cried because of my condition. I have always been a fighter. Whenever I have a problem, I do not whine about it nor do I cry. Instead, I think of the best way to tackle the problem and put the solution into action. I am a firm believer of the notion that as long as I try hard enough, nothing is impossible. All of a sudden, I felt anger in me. Why should I bow to cancer? Why should I be sad? At that moment, all I wanted was to fight. I wanted to punch the lump in my neck with my own bare fists. If cancer wants a fight, I will take it on any time, any day. The first thing I did was to request for the earliest slot the doctor can schedule for my surgery. He scheduled me for Monday, which leaves me with three days of freedom. The sensible thing to do was to stay at home to rest and prepare myself for the surgery. But that was not what I wanted to do. Why rest now when rest is all I will be doing after the surgery? So, I went out to play and play I did. I visited all the places that I had wanted to go but was too busy to do so. I met up with my closest friends and ate so much that I put on 2kg in three days. On the day of the surgery, I woke up at 5am to pack. All I could think about was how bored I will be there, so books, mp3 player, notebooks and pens went into my bag. But I never managed to unload or use the contents in my bag. I was on morphine most of the time, which left my mind in a perpetual hazy state. The fact that my head and neck were so swollen that I resembled more of an eggplant than a human did not help. I was hospitalised for a total of ten days, living off a feeding tube that lead from my nose to the stomach. The days were truly the worst days of my life. I underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy after the surgery. Sometimes, the potency of these treatments chills me to my bone. I read that chemotherapy will kill you to save you. I found out from my own experience it is actually true because while chemotherapy kills cancer cells, it also kills thousands of healthy cells and leaves you weak and tired most of the time. Vomiting, loss of appetite and hair were side effects that chemotherapy brought. Radiotherapy was no better. Imagine very bad sunburn. The skin on my mouth and inner lining of my cheeks started peeling. My throat was so badly scorched that I could barely drink or eat. At times, I felt that life was too painful to go on. However, I persevere by telling myself that cancer can harm my body in whatever way it wants but it will never conquer my mind. To me, what mattered most was that my sanity and emotions were intact. No matter how different I looked, I knew that as long as I was mentally strong, I will beat cancer. It all ended in April 2005. I officially turned from cancer patient to cancer survivor. Victory never tasted so sweet. From now, I know I will only get better and better. I was finally going to get my life back. Yes, I still have to face stares from strangers due to the swelling on my face, I still have to face the fears of a recurrence, I still have the scars that are left on me permanently but at least, I can live to see my future, I can live to realize my dreams, I can smell the flowers, I can feel the cool wind on my face, I can see the faces of my loved ones. The fight was worthwhile. Every single moment of it.