Single mum with Stage 4 cancer feels dispirited at times
At the end of 2018, Ms Normalah M. Sidek felt something amiss.
"I felt a piercing pain in my left breast," the 38-year-old single mother told Berita Minggu.
She went to a polyclinic in Choa Chu Kang and was referred to National University Hospital, where she was advised to undergo mastectomy.
"There were two lumps in my left breast," said Ms Normalah, who added that she underwent weekly chemotherapy following her surgery.
The mother of two boys lost her job as she often needed time off for her breast cancer treatments.
But her plight did not end there.
Just six months after she was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in 2019, she was told the cancer had metastasised and she needed to undergo chemotherapy every three weeks for her Stage 4 breast cancer.
"The cancer has spread everywhere, including my spine and the back of my head. Two years ago, it got to my liver," said Ms Normalah.
"I struggle to endure the painful side effects of the chemotherapy. It makes me wish to just put an end to all the treatments.
"But I must persevere for the sake of my children. The doctor tells me that as long as I undergo treatment, I am buying time. I know my cancer cannot be cured."
Ms Normalah, who divorced from her husband in 2016, is mother to Muhammad Reezqy Matin Mohammad Azhar, 14, and Muhammad Reezqy Danish Mohammad Azhar, nine.
The family of three living in a three-room flat at Keat Hong Close is dependent on aid from a few organisations including ComCare and the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis).
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