'I'm glad I didn't give up': Woman beats terminal cancer, survives 3 relapses in 10 years

She was first diagnosed with late-stage blood cancer 10 years ago, at the age of 48. She recovered but unexpectedly suffered three relapses within the next decade.

Throughout her struggles, Fu Mei Yu (transliteration) had never once thought about giving up.

Before cancer first struck, Mei Yu led a busy and active lifestyle, going to the gym thrice a week, Shin Min Daily News reported.

As a manager in a food manufacturing company, Mei Yu often had to fly overseas for work. So when she first experienced symptoms of back pain, breathlessness and fatigue 10 years ago, she thought it was a result of overwork.

But the symptoms persisted for over a month, till it hindered her performance of simple day-to-day activities. That was when she knew she had to see a doctor.

Shared Mei Yu: "I couldn't even go from the bedroom to the kitchen without feeling breathless."

She went to see a traditional chinese medicine physician, who told her she needed immediate medical attention. "The doctor pulled down my lower eyelid and told me I had to go to the hospital immediately."

However, Mei Yu waited till the next day to head to the emergency department. There, her haemogoblin level was found to be dangerously low and she had to be warded for a blood transfusion and further tests.

Following a battalion of tests, Mei Yu was diagnosed with stage 4 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The cancer was found to be in the bone marrow but had spread to the lungs by then.

Despite the devastating news, the usually positive Mei Yu quickly gathered her emotions and adopted a "solution-focused" approach to her diagnosis. She underwent six weeks of chemotherapy, which caused her to lose her appetite as well as her hair.

Mei Yu described forcing herself to eat no matter how arduous it was.

"I told myself that I had to have strength in order to fight the cancer. So even though I couldn't stomach much and would vomit after eating, I still ate."

She also took the pre-emptive step to shave all her hair off.

"Hair will grow. Nothing was more important than gaining my health back, so I went to the hair salon to have my head shaved, once and for all."

When her cancer went into remission, Mei Yu resumed her active lifestyle, only to have the symptoms reappear a year later. Once again, she beat the disease with the support of her family, whom she says gave her the motivation to live on.

But in Feb 2019, the cancer returned for the third time.

This time, her doctor told her it was terminal and she had only six months to live. As she'd exhausted all available treatments, she was asked to consider bone-marrow matching or end-of-life care.

Among her siblings, only her eldest sister was found to be a suitable bone marrow donor. But Mei Yu refused, describing her sister as "the least healthy" of her siblings and "smallest in size".

"How could I bear to let her suffer? Even though she asked me why I'm afraid if she's not scared, but I couldn't accept it. I believed there had to be another way."

Upon referral to another doctor, Mei Yu underwent a different type of immunotherapy treatment for three months and successfully beat the cancer.

Now 58, Mei Yu has been cancer-free for the past four-and-a-half years. 

She described how her tumultuous journey in the past 10 years has given her a new lease on life, giving credit to her religious faith as well as family and friends for their support.

She added: "I'm glad I didn't give up, and I cherish life even more now."

20% of patients suffer multiple relapses: Doctor

When interviewed by Shin Min Daily News, the haematologist who treated Mei Yu shared that the latter was suffering from the most common form of blood cancer, for which chemotherapy treatment has a 65 to 70 per cent success rate.

He added that if the cancer had already spread to other parts of the body, there is a 10 to 20 per cent chance of the patient suffering multiple relapses.

The doctor stated that with the advancement of medical science, there is bound to be better and more effective treatments.

"The last immunotherapy treatment [Mei Yu] underwent was not available during her first cancer diagnosis, and now there are newer treatment plans available that have a success rate of up to 70 per cent," he shared.

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candicecai@asiaone.com