He fought stage 3 cancer at 26 and survived to marry and have child

SINGAPORE — Just weeks after Mr Bryaan Lea and his fiancee set their wedding date, he was diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer that starts in white blood cells or lymphocytes.

Mr Lea, who was 26 years old at the time and a financial consultant, had been getting skin rashes and experiencing breathing difficulties and voice hoarseness for two to three months. He thought it was just a severe bout of sore throat or flu.

When taking lozenges and pi pa gao (a Chinese traditional herbal remedy) did not help, he saw a doctor.

Scans revealed an 8cm-large mass in his chest. Cancer was also found in his spleen.

Shaken by the diagnosis, he wondered if he would survive advanced cancer.

“At the time, we didn’t even know what Hodgkin lymphoma was,” he said. “There was an eerie silence (in the consultation room) when the doctor broke the news. We didn’t know how to react to it.”