When Jamilah Ishak was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in February 2000, she calmly accepted the news, having already researched her condition on the Internet. What she could not accept, however, was being bluntly told that she only had a 50 per cent chance of surviving.

Within a few days of the diagnosis she underwent a mastectomy which removed all her breast tissue. But further examination revealed that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, and so her initiation into life as a cancer patient went into the next phase: conversations and bargaining sessions with God. Her youngest daughter was only four at that time.

The next four months were the bleakest of her life. Usually a dynamo in perpetual motion, Jamilah was left bed-ridden after enduring eight chemotherapy and 15 radiotherapy sessions.

By the second day of treatment she had lost all her hair. She felt ugly in the eyes of those dearest and closest to her - her husband, her son and two daughters.

The situation worsened in the most unexpected way when Jamilah's second child, who was only eight, tried to take her own life. She could not, accept that her once energetic mother was now always feeling and looking ill, and decided that it would be easier if she went before her beloved mom did. She tried to jump out of the bedroom window of their seventh-floor apartment. Even now, more than two years later, she asks when her mother goe to the hospital, "For work or for treatment?"

Breast cancer, the leading cause of cancer mortality among women, is something of a silent killer. In a 2002 study involving 500 local women, researchers found that while 88 per cent of them perform breast self-examinations, only 59 per cent perform the technique correctly.

More than 60 per cent of patients who are diagnosed with cancer will "disappear" before their first treatment. Some try alternative healing, while others silently accept their fate.

Jamilah recalls her experiences with three patients whom she had counselled and lost to the disease, due to this kind of circumstance. Her voice reverberates with life and energy, but her eyes seem to dim a little as she remembers them.

She considers herself very lucky compared to those who were diagnosed with terminal cancer. She even counts her past illness as a very worthy experience, maybe even a sign from God that it was time for her to give back to someone else. It has been two and a half years since Jamilah first detected the lumps in her breast. After successful treatment, she wants to share her experiences and spread awareness and positivity.

Today, Jamilah is full of life once more and she still continues her conversations with God. She is a cancer survivor and seems almost restless to spread the word : There is life after cancer.

• Telekanser 2002, a, nationwide fund raising campaign organised by MAKNA (Majlis Kanser Nasional) to raise funds for cancer treatment and cancer research, is running until Dec3l.
• To donate, you can call a toll-free line 1-800188-3313 and make your pledge. You can then fulfil your pledge via cash, cheque money order, or credit card The public can also make donations at leading banks throughout Malaysia.

Source by: NST Life & Times, September 17,2002