Ms Toh, from Malaysia, suffered from stage IV lung cancer. She was admitted into St. Stamford Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou in November 2017. After three sessions of interventional therapy, the biggest tumor in her lung shrank from almost 4 cm to around 1 cm, tumor that spread to her brain has disappeared after treatment. At present, she is in a stable condition.

Face it positively when cancer recurred after 5 years

Ms Toh is a 55-year-old stage IV lung cancer patient, who is from Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Five years ago, Ms Toh was confirmed as lymphoma, she had six rounds of chemotherapy in local hospital, even though she suffered nausea, vomiting and hair loss, she finally made it. Facing cancer recurrence, she exclaimed, "I have made through the five-year survival period, but I know people always face cancer recurrence, when it comes back, we treat it."

Malaysian stage IV lung cancer sufferer Ms Toh

In September, 2017, Ms Toh was detected with fluids accumulated in her lung and tumors scattering over her left lung after she went to local hospital because of her difficulty in breathing. It was detected that the bigger tumor in her lung was around 2 cm and she was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Afterwards, doctor in Malaysia helped deal with the pleural effusion problem and prescribed her some medicine to control it. However, after taking the medicine for more than a month, Ms Toh started to suffer cracked fingers, chapped lips, dry nose and bleeding fingers. The severity of Toh’s condition pushed her and her families to look for another effective alternative treatment.

In Oct. 2017, Toh’s son happened to read about Johor Bahru cancer symposium from the internet and local newspaper, therefore, accompanied by her families, Toh joined the symposium and made a consultation with Prof. Xu Haitao, consultant doctor in Kuala Lumpur Office of St.Stamford Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou and from whom Toh learned about minimally invasive technology. Minimally invasive therapy featuring small trauma, good curative effect and few side effect brought Toh hope and she had faith that minimally invasive therapy can take good care of her condition.

She came to Guangzhou for lung cancer treatment with support from her families

With the assistance of staff in Kuala Lumpur Office, Ms Toh successfully got her visa and ready for overseas treatment. She, together with her son, arrived at St.Stamford Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou on Nov. 9. On her arrival, she was not only arranged a basic body checkup but also suggested another CT scans on her brain to inspect brain metastasis. The CT Scans indicated that she had left lung cancer with multiple metastases to hilum of lung, both lung lobes and left pleura, moreover, the largest lung tumor has enlarged from 2 cm to 4 cm and a tumor measuring about 2 cm was detected in her brain. After diagnosis, the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) immediately made a treatment plan combining three sessions of interventional therapy and chemotherapy based on her condition.

After the treatment, fluids accumulated in her lung disappeared and the tumor obviously shrank

"Aiming to avoid the toxic and severe side effects of chemotherapy, we applied interventional therapy in her case. Compared to systemic chemotherapy, interventional therapy features advantages that anticancer drugs are exactly injected to the lesion site through arteries. So drugs with high concentration kills cancer cells more effectively without damage to other organs and causing few toxic side effects. Going through the whole process get much more easier for patients." Ms Toh’s attending doctor, Dr. Ma Xiaoying noted.

After the treatment, the metastatic tumor in her brain disappeared

During the interview, Ms Toh was wearing smile and her hearty laughter was always heard in the ward. Her humor and optimism really moved our staff. She said, "I wasn’t depressed and stay home all day long even during the period I lost all my hair after chemotherapy five years ago. I did grocery shopping as usual and had fun with my friends. Confronting cancer, one should be positive and stop overthinking. Just take it easy and treat it as cold and follow doctor’s guidance."

We sincerely hope all cancer patients have positive thoughts and get well soon.