My Survivor, My Linh
Giving up hope was not what this mother intended to do. She tells her heart-warming story of her daughter’s battle against cancer, proving that there is, indeed, life after cancer.
For Vietnamese Trinh Thi My Van, her life couldn’t be better. She’s married with three beautiful children and lives comfortably in a middle-class family. So when cancer suddenly struck one of her children, you’d think that her life spiraled downhill. But she turned the odds around and provided the pillar of strength for her family in her quest to help her daughter fight the cancer battle in Singapore.
“My 10-year-old daughter, Nam My Linh, is a bubbly and active girl. She’s always in the top 10 of her class, and enjoys nothing more than playing with her Barbie doll.”
After all, she was at the age when she was doing that an awful lot. But when she came home from school limping, two days after her first complaint, I got a little frightened.
I sent her to an orthopedic hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Here she was sent for an X-ray, an MRI and a CT scan.
When the doctors came back to me the next day with the results of My Linh’s scan tests, my heart dropped. They told me that she had osteosarcoma, which is a form of bone cancer. I couldn’t believe it. My daughter was only 10-years-old. I thought cancer was a disease suffered only by the elderly when their immune system became weaker.
But I realised that I had to accept the reality sooner rather than later, so My Linh was admitted to hospital on 20 September ‘06, with a biopsy scheduled three days later. It was heart breaking for me to see young children with their frail bodies lying around at the hospital, their pale faces telling a thousand words. What saddened me was that underneath their blankets, these children’s legs had succumbed to cancer so they had to be amputated. It was terrible to know that after all the suffering these children went through, that they would still die!
But I refused to have cancer take away my daughter’s life. In my despair, I e-mailed my sisters who live in the US and asked for their help. My sisters told me many types of cancers are curable now as a result of medical research. They told me to take My Linh out of Vietnam, as they felt that the medical technology here was not advanced enough to treat My Linh’s cancer.
So my sisters set up an appointment for us to see Dr Mohler at Stanford University in California, USA, on 6 October ‘06. But before making this huge decision, I went to another doctor at Medical Diagnosis Centre MEDIC in Ho Chi Minh City for a second opinion. There, our doctor, Dr Phan Thanh Hai checked My Linh again, and did an ultrasound, X-rays, MRI and CT scans. After consulting with other doctors, Dr Phan confirmed the diagnosis of the previous doctor. My Linh had osteosarcoma.
Although I was crying inside, I had to remain strong for My Linh. I had to think quickly about our next course of action. Dr Phan assured us that there are more advanced treatments in other countries, and that cancer can be cured. Those were the only words I needed to hear. He also said that the medical treatments in Singapore were as advanced as in the US.
Moreover, treatments in the US would cost me ten times more than what they would in Singapore, and that we would still need to apply for a US visa, which might be a long process. Since I didn’t want to waste any more time, as I knew the longer we waited, the more chance that the tumour would grow bigger, I decided to come to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.
On 3 October, we took a one-and-a-half hour flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Singapore. The next day, we met Dr Ang for the first time. My first impression of him was that he was a patient and gentle man. In our first consultation, he carefully observed My Linh’s films, thoroughly examined her legs, where her pain was and asked extensively about her family’s medical history. Again, Dr Ang confirmed that My Linh suffered from osteosarcoma.
From the beginning I was very impressed with Dr Ang’s professionalism. He explained in detail that he would use chemotherapy to shrink and kill the tumour cells in My Linh’s body. After six cycles of chemotherapy, he would get a bone transplant for My Linh, which involved replacing the affected bone with a new bone.
The treatment fee for the chemo and the bone transplant amounted to around S$70,000, which was reasonable. But what was more important at the time was for My Linh to be cured and for her to keep her leg.
Everything moved very fast after our first consultation. On 5 October, My Linh was admitted to Mount Elizabeth hospital for her biopsy. The hospital resembled a luxury hotel in my country. It was wonderful to hear that she only had to be admitted for one day in the hospital. As her wound was drying well, she returned home with only a small band-aid on her leg. It was amazing!
Her first chemotherapy was scheduled on 7 October. My Linh had her chemotherapy treatment at Dr Ang’s clinic so that we didn’t have to pay for a bed at the hospital. Each three-day cycle took three hours, following which we had to administer the chemo medicines at home via a portable machine.
As a result of the chemo, My Linh suffered from quite severe side effects. Her hair dropped, she was vomiting, had no appetite and would lie in bed all day. However, after she was given injections to increase her haemoglobin level, she gradually felt better. Her appetite returned and she was more active. Dr Ang assured us that her hair would grow back, so we didn’t worry about that.
Before we knew it, it was time for My Linh’s bone transplant. It was barely two months after we came to Singapore. When Dr Ang showed us the x-rays of her leg after her third chemotherapy session, the tumour had shrunk!
So exactly two months after her first chemotherapy, My Linh was admitted to the hospital for her bone transplant. I was very impressed by the quality of service that we received, even though we were in the cheapest room! Every morning the doctors would come into My Linh’s room to check on her. Everybody was very professional and efficient. And I realized that this was the price that I was paying for; no amount would be able to repay the kind of service given to us.
Before her discharge, My Linh had to go for a few rehab sessions where she was taught how to use the crutches. Her surgeon, Dr Khong, advised us that it would normally take between three to six months for the new bone to mould into the old bone.
When I saw My Linh at rehab I was smiling with joy. It definitely looked like she would have a bright future ahead of her. It was hard to believe that after everything she’d gone through, she was able to return to Vietnam, to go to school and be with her family and friends again.
“My only hope now is for Vietnam to adopt the same medical advances as the one I’ve seen in Singapore, so that people there won’t need to dread the ‘C’ word anymore and are able to experience life after cancer.”
