|
 More than a decade ago, having hepatitis B and liver cancer was the last thing on physical education teacher Yue Keng Siang’s (right) mind.
Then 38 years old, he was at the prime of his life and had never felt fitter.
However, in 1998, his mother discovered she had hepatitis B and liver cirrhosis.
More than 90 per cent of hepatitis B cases are transmitted from mother to child during birth.
Mr Yue and his eight siblings were asked to test for hepatitis B but he put off his own screening until the following year.
Some of his siblings were found to have the virus and had to return for regular checks. None has been found to have liver cancer to date.
“I thought that hepatitis B is not a very serious disease,” said Mr Yue, now 49.
Even when the polyclinic where he did his test summoned him urgently to get his blood test results, he still thought it could not be something that serious.
“I am a very healthy person. I am fit, exercise regularly and I don’t drink. I didn’t think the results would be so bad,” he recalled.
He was then told he had hepatitis B and the liver function test showed high levels of cancer markers.
“How could something like that happen to me when I’ve always been so fit?” he said. He was in shock then.
Not only was he fit, he did not have any symptoms of hepatitis B or liver cancer because these tend to show up only in the later stages of the diseases.
After further scans confirmed he had early stage liver cancer, he had an operation to remove the tumour that same year.
He kept his condition from his mother, who died in 2000 from liver failure.
Mr Yue switched to a healthier diet of vegetables and fish and he went for check-ups twice a year.
The cancer relapsed in 2005 and he had surgery again.
When a second relapse came a year later in 2006, doctors told him that the cancer had spread too much and that he would need a liver transplant to survive.
Mr Yue was put on the organ transplant waiting list. His wife was ready to give him part of her liver, but fortunately he was able to get a cadaveric liver transplant in 2007.
He is now free of cancer.
Throughout those years, Mr Yue did not have any symptoms of the disease except for jaundice in 2007 while waiting for the transplant.
These days, the father of a boy, 14, and a girl, 11, is back to leading an active lifestyle.
He is still a physical education teacher at a tertiary institution, teaching swimming and basketball five days a week. He works out at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve once a week with his 49-year-old wife, who is a part-time tutor. He takes antiviral jabs once a month to keep his hepatitis B in check.
“I wasn’t aware that hepatitis B can lead to liver cirrhosis or cancer. I was lucky to detect my cancer early enough,” he said.
In his case, that all-important blood test a decade ago was better late than never.
|