“As doctors, we see patients who don’t make it and that can be discouraging. When you and all the other long term survivors come for a follow up visit, the fact that you are healthy and alive gives us encouragement that we are doing good.”

5/26/2016 2:04:00 PM |

The article is contributed/written by

One of my patients who had been cleared of Blood Cancer for more than 10 years asked me, "Doc, if I am really cured, do I really need to come for these clinic visits every year?"

I knew he had been waiting to see me and one less visit meant he would be free to do other things. I wanted to tell him how important it was for us to keep track of his health and look out for the development of other cancers to make sure that he lived a long and healthy life. But on that day, where I had just seen another patient in the ward pass away due to leukaemia, I decided to give him a different perspective, "Well, you are here to treat me." "Treat you? What do you mean?" he asked.

"You know, as doctors, we see patients who don't make it and that can be discouraging. When you and all the other long term survivors come for a follow up visit, the fact that you are healthy and alive gives us encouragement that we are doing good, even when some patients succumb to their cancer. When I see patients like you, I feel much better. So, you are here to treat me." My patient's eyes slowly lit up as he saw a new perspective on his visits. He smiled broadly and reached out to shake my hand, "Doc, if it is for that reason, I will gladly come several times a year." He has been happily coming every year since.

Assoc Prof William Hwang
Head, SingHealth Duke-NUS Blood Cancer Centre
Senior Consultant (Head), Department of Haematology,
Singapore General Hospital

Celebrated on May 28th, World Blood Cancer Day is an international awareness day where people all over the world join together to raise awareness on blood cancer. The awareness symbol, a red ampersand conveys that you & I are united in the fight against blood cancer.

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