I was deeply heartened as I read this short article in The New Paper a few days back. This encouraging story of a brave cancer patient, Ms Chun Wee Ping, has shown me what it means to find that smallest flicker of hope even in the most desperate of situations, and to stand up bravely against the innumerable challenges we may possibly face in our lives.
To divert her attention away from the intense pain she was suffering, Ms Chun focused much of her time on painting. This proved to be more successful than initially expected- besides helping to take her mind off her illness, the money she earned from auctioning her artwork on ebay covered a majority of her medical bills.
Ms Chun’s story is certainly, in my opinion, one that can serve as a major source of inspiration towards all other cancer warriors.
Experiencing the same horrible side effects of treatment (chemotherapy, radiation and surgery), including weakness, nausea, diarrhea, and hair-loss, she continued producing 4-7 pieces of artwork weekly. Dealing with the side-effects of treatment would certainly be an ordeal for any ordinary person, but Ms Chun quite amazingly created something extraordinary out of those dire circumstances.
A friend of my mother was fighting cancer a couple of years back. From what I could see, it was a tough and strenuous battle for her, having to cope with taking care of her young children, as well as the treatment which caused her a great deal of somatic distress. Having seen for myself the amount of distress cancer could bring to a person, it is somewhat shocking to see how Ms Chun was able to overcome this obstacle so positively. Wasn’t she undergoing the same treatment as other cancer patients? Wasn’t she encountering the same side-effects? However, it is exactly the way in which her optimism was always able to shine through, and her strength in fighting the illness that really impresses me.
In the course of her battle, Ms Chun was an epitome of courage and vigor. Life is never meant to be a bed of roses. We should always be resilient and stand strong against the adversities that attempt to strike us down time and again. Ominous the circumstances may seem, certainly not all we have is lost. Ms Chun, for example, continued pursuing her passion in painting while fighting her illness. Not only was she able to derive utmost joy from painting, the $15, 000 she received from selling them was an unexpected bonus for her.
In one’s life journey, things do not necessarily go our way all the time, or even half the time for some people. However, I feel that we should regard all the obstacles as building blocks of our own character, and as Ms Chun herself so aptly puts it, “Stay positive, always looking up towards the light.”
- The New Paper, 11 May 2007
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1 comment:
Heartfelt, this.
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