When Chu San first felt a hard little lump on her breast, she didn’t panic. “I thought it was just scar tissue,” she says with a gentle laugh. Years earlier, after breastfeeding her two boys, she had dealt with blocked milk ducts and even minor breast surgeries. A small bump didn’t feel like anything new. “I was busy teaching and busy with my family. I didn’t even bother about it.”
But her husband insisted: Just go for a check. That check, an ultrasound and a mammogram changed everything.
“The doctor touched the lump and immediately said, ‘This is not good news.’”
It was 2008. Chu San was 45, a mother to a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old, and suddenly she had stage 3 breast cancer.
Choosing Action Over Fear
Many people would have been paralysed. Chu San felt the shock, of course.
Why me? I’m healthy, I exercise, I eat well, but she never froze.
“The doctor offered me a second opinion. I said no. I trusted her. I didn’t want to waste time.” Within three weeks, she had a mastectomy.
The surgery was only the beginning: six cycles of chemotherapy, fifteen rounds of radiotherapy, and a year of targeted therapy followed. The first two chemo sessions were brutal. “I vomited, had no strength, just lying in bed,” she remembers. But by the third session, she was up and walking again.
“I love nature. After each chemo, a week later, I told my husband, let’s go to the waterfall. We would sit there and enjoy the sound of water. It gave me peace.”
Friends taught her breathing exercises. Her sister introduced her to qigong. “That helped so much, the slow movement, the deep breathing. It brought back my energy and my calm.”
A Family That Refused to Quit
Her husband, Quick, was her rock. While teaching full-time, he managed their two sons, the housework, and the endless medical appointments. “He never treated me like a patient,” she says.
He fought for financial support when expensive targeted drugs weren’t covered. “I even called the Minister of Health,” Quick says. “I told the doctor, ‘You do what’s best for her. I will find the money.’”
Their sons, though still in school, drew courage from their mother’s strength. “They asked me once, ‘Mommy, when will you die?’” Chu San recalls softly. “I told them, ‘Don’t worry. I’m fighting.’ I had to show them I was strong.”
Hiking, Healing, and a Second Battle
After finishing treatment, Chu San didn’t just recover, she thrived. She and her family began hiking local hills, then bigger mountains. “We climbed Mount Kinabalu together,” she beams. “Ten, twelve hours in the jungle. I never imagined I could do that, even after chemo!”
Then, six years later, a new blow: the cancer had spread to her liver. Doctors warned she might have only six months to live. “Sixty percent of my liver was covered in tumours,” she says. “But I didn’t give up. I sought three opinions and found a doctor I trusted.”
Targeted therapy worked. Today, more than a decade later, she is still here, still hiking, still laughing.
Building a Community of Hope
Gratitude pushed her to give back. She joined the Breast Cancer Welfare Association, rowing dragon boats with fellow survivors and eventually helping to found Pink Inspirers, a support group for women living with metastatic breast cancer.
“Support is everything,” she insists. “Family, friends, other survivors, it keeps you going. We share stories, we cry together, we laugh together. No one should face this alone.”
Her advice to anyone newly diagnosed is direct and warm:
Trust your doctor and stick with one you can communicate with.
- Believe in science, don’t chase unproven “miracle” cures.
- Stay positive, even when it feels impossible.
- Love yourself and be content with the life you have.
Living Without Regret
Quick adds his own lesson: “When something happens, give your best. Then there’s no regret. Too many people say, If I had known… Don’t wait until it’s too late.”
“Life is unpredictable. But your body and your mind can do more than you think. I’m stronger now than I was before I had cancer.”
Seventeen years after her first diagnosis, Chu San is living proof. She still bargains playfully with her doctors for longer gaps between scans so she can travel. She still hikes, practices qigong, and still cheers on new survivors.
“Cancer taught me to love myself more,” she says. “It taught me to slow down, to spend time with my family, and to enjoy every day. I chose life and I keep choosing it, every single day.”
