Cancer survivor Koh Chieng Mun changes her lifestyle to be healthy after chemotherapy treatment

Ms Koh Chieng Mun, better known to local TV viewers as Dolly from the Under One Roof family sitcom, turns 51 this year.

Though not yet in the silver-hair league, she can identify with the elderly. After all, it took six months for her hair to grow back after completing her chemotherapy treatment for kidney and breast cancer in 2005.

“As a cancer survivor, I can understand how it feels to be very, very old. You feel like your days are numbered because of a chance of relapse that might just suddenly take your life away,” she says.

Fortunately, with the help of the Singapore Cancer Society, which actively organises wellness programmes, advice from health practitioners and support from family  and friends, she was able to “find the fun in everything I do”.

Having received insurance payouts that allowed her to stop working, she decided to channel her energy into helping others.

“I asked myself why am I still alive? Why didn’t I die? So I did a stock check of my past and started to understand how I became ill. I wanted to help other people recognise these syndromes and prevent themselves from getting ill.”

During her year as an actress, she had long working hours, irregular meals and often a huge supper before bedtime and surviving on three hours of sleep.

“A young, busy person always thinks he or she is invincible, but stress is the silent killer — it weakens one’s immune system and secret hormones that make you vulnerable to diseases,” she says.

Now, a champion of “exercise, nutrition and rest”, Ms Koh conducts cooking workshops that incorporate aerobics instructions on every first Saturday of the school holidays.

Her cooking workshop attracts 200 to 300 people each time. She has a website at www.myhealthylifestyle.com.sg and hopes to host her own TV show on health matters one day.

It’s a new vocation that allows her to befriend strangers, something she feels is crucial for her road to recovery.

Hormonal changes and seeing the children all grown up can put some middle-aged people through an emotional crisis, she says.

“Sometimes, you just need some friends to help you get out of your shell, put on that swimming costume or whatever gym gear to get active again.”