THE WRITTEN SCRIPT FOR MY SPEECH ON CANCER JOURNEY

A very good morning to all of you,

First I like to express my heartfelt thanks to the organiser for giving me the opportunity to stand here and share with you all my journey battling with Cancer and its subsequent treatments.

Who am I ?

I am James Oh, Author, trainer cum socialpreneur. I am the founder of Lift You Up Plt, a training company specialising in finance, wealth creation and thinking skills.

What we do?

Our mission is to inspire and motivate you so that you are well equipped to meet any challenges to accomplish your passions.

My C journey
Ladies and gentlemen

Cancer is not as fearful a disease as what I initially thought. With the advancement of medical science, new drugs have minimised the side effects. I urge each of you to be positive. If you have a will there will always be a way.

Do not fear. Look for all the various treatments until you find one that you are comfortable with. I would like to take this opportunity to ask everyone to be alert and take precaution if you notice these symptoms.

If you constantly have stomach discomfort and your stomach is always bloated as if there is lots of wind in your stomach even though you have taken a small amount of food.

Subsequently, on July 24, 2017, I was then advised to go for an endoscopy. The diagnosis after endoscopy was a high possibility of big C..... of the stomach.

On Aug 1, 2017 When I was told by the Gastronomic doctor that I had the big C... I was not really to accept the facts at that time and shed some tears. Why me?

The tumour size was about 5 to 6 cm and located at the bottom of my stomach and it covered part of my intestine making it difficult for the food to pass through. That explains the bloatedness of my tummy.

Ladies and gentlemen

To treat cancer is a very expensive affair. Not only it may require surgery but also other treatments eg chemotherapy, radiotherapy etc...It is going to take a long time and also costs a lot of money. If you don’t have insurance, it is going to drain your pocket. Yes there were be side effects too.

I was in a dilemma. How was I going to tell my family especially two kids who needed me to fund their tertiary education? A myriad of questions flashed through my mind. I was devastated and unable to deal with this situation. I prayed to Lord to calm me down before I drove home.

Prior to this, I did consult my family doctor but he always assured me that everything was ok and prescribed me medication for gastric reflux for nearly a month.

However I continue to experience a lack of appetite, bloatedness in my tummy and tiredness. My daughter who is currently pursuing a medical course kept pushing me to consult a specialist. I was then advised to go for an endoscopy. A CT Scan and MRI were then done. I had to consult a surgeon and the Gastro insisted that I should have an operation carried out soonest possible.

A major operation was done to remove 60% of my stomach together with part of pancreas and lymph nodes on Aug 14.

With a smaller stomach, I can only eat less but more often. I also need to chew my food properly for easy digestion, instead of my bad habit of walloping my meal. You see I now have the luxury of slowly enjoying my food now. Haha...

However 3 out 14 of my lymph nodes were found to be cancerous. I had waited too long for my diagnosis and the cancer has spread from the stomach to other organs.

The surgery was not the end of my journey. I had to consult an oncologist to discuss follow up treatments. I went to see a few oncologists and finally made the decision to have the chemotherapy done at UMSC private wing.

My first chemotherapy was not a smooth one. The drip caused numbness to my arm. After that I suffered nausea and vomiting. It was like going through hell. I felt like giving up. I shared with other big C....patients and they confirmed they too experienced similar effects. I prayed to God for mercy and guidance. He then led me to seek help from Hospis. They came and gave me some steroid injections. Slowly, all the discomforts and sufferings dissipated. As a result I lost a further 3 kg a week after my first chemo. After that I stopped the treatment with consent from my oncologist and decided to look for alternative treatment. However, after 3 weeks my oncologist asked me to return. He was very disappointed with me and gave me an ultimatum to continue or not. If I continue he told me my survival rate is only 20% based on the latest findings from more than 10,000 stomach patients of various stages. He foresee I was going to crash soon. The most 6 months to a year. sad?

I strongly believe that God will be merciful to me and allow me to be in the 20% group who survived.

I decided to persevere and have great confidence that my Lord will give me the required strength to pull through in order that I can inspire and motivate others to ease their journey. PTL.

My Subsequent 3 treatments went smoothly. However after the 3rd treatment my oncologist decided to increase my dosage in view of my near perfect blood test results and performance.

The toxins from the drug have affected my liver as seen from the blood test. I was given supplements, Legaton 140mg Capsule, for a month to protect my liver.

However, the increased dosage of Xedola led my platelet counts to drop. This led to bleeding as I pass motion as the blood could not clot. As a result my surgeon prescribed additional meditation and supplement (Augmentin and Fybogel) to help increase the platelet level.

Therefore ladies and gentlemen

I urge you to be alert to the physical and other changes in your body, even if there is no pain. Consult the respective specialist and insist on doing a blood test, at least. Be thankful if it is negative. Otherwise, go for the necessary procedures and treatment if it is positive.

Prevention is better than cure. Remember always health is the most important thing in life. All the money in the world cannot buy life.

I loved to share my insightful personal and professional experience through my books.

Meanwhile I am taking this opportunity to upgrade one of my books, Letting Go and Moving On, to second edition. At that time everything and everyone seem to let me down. In this book, it revealed how I was able to bounce back from my depression after I failed to obtain justice for my stillborn son two decades ago. Fortunately I managed to get to know Jesus and with His help I managed to forgive my perpetrators. This book offers some useful tips and techniques as how to let go this painful experience, forgive the penetrators and live happily and joyful by looking from God’s perspective. Everything happens for a reason.

Accept it and deal with it. Enjoy every turn of life. Have faith in Him who will keep His promises always. Rainbow is one of good example.

Similarly, I also journal my journey through the big C........ and intend to get it published, the title, Cancer : Fear or Inspiration. I am using this painting as the cover of this book. This painting is the contribution from our pool of artists and I believe it is Divine appointment as it well conveys my message precisely and concisely. The clouds represent the lymph nodes of my stage 3 status. Now, it is my choice to focus on the clouds or rainbow. I am very sure you know my answer without me saying out.

What you guys think of this book? Any better idea to share? I always welcome feedback as it is the breakfast of every success.

My main intention of publishing this book is to provide guidelines to those big C ...patients. I sincerely hope that this book will provide them with valuable insight and to inspire as well as motivate them never to lose hope but to move on. I always welcome feedbacks.

I have two fold intentions for these books. First, to share my insightful experience with my peers with intention to offer them an inspiration and view this adversity as a bend, not the end. Always remember there is no rainbow without storm, as reflected in this book cover.

Secondly it is to raise fund for the cancer Community through book sales, as a living proof that we can live financial independently through our labour of love. Let us unite together and turn this adversity into opportunity. To create wealth from anything and everything is also my expertise.

It further affirms that the big C ....cannot cripple love. It cannot shatter hope. It cannot corrode faith, if you decide to choose it as an inspiration as I did.

Before I pass the mike to the next speaker once again I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the organisers.

Ladies n gentlemen

If you have any questions regarding the big C....., please do not hesitate to ask. You can even drop me an email at.....
I would be very happy to reply.

Cheers and look forward to hearing from you warrior,

With unconditional love,

James Oh