No stoma bag can stop this cancer survivor from helping others

When diagnosed with cancer, it is not uncommon for individuals to ask themselves: "Why me?"

But Mr Ellil Mathiyan Lakshmanan, when diagnosed with rectal cancer in 2011 and subsequently with testicular cancer, asked himself: "Why not?"

“I had high stress levels, smoked two packs of cigarettes a day and both my parents died of cancer," the 65-year-old told Tabla.

Mr Lakshmanan quit smoking in 2009 after a 13-year-old student at the tuition agency he was working at asked him for help in buying cigarettes.

The stunned tutor went cold turkey but the bad habit apparently had already taken its toll on his body.

Mr Lakshmanan had part of his bowel removed because of the rectal cancer and has since been using a stoma bag.

He found it challenging to be wearing the stoma bag, which collects waste and needs to be changed regularly.

“It wasn’t so much of a social stigma for me, I didn't really care what people thought. It was more about how I was going to get back to living life normally."

Mr Lakshmanan was active in sports, such as swimming and squash, before his cancer diagnoses.

“Then I read a newspaper article about a man in his 70s, who wore a stoma bag but would play basketball, run, cycle and swim," he recounted. 

"If he can do all that, then so can I.”

And Mr Lakshmanan has been even more active since then. He walks, paddles, dances and has even completed a full marathon.

Besides doing it for himself, Mr Lakshmanan also sweats it out for others.

In 2018, he joined 19 others on a gruelling four-day trek across Gobi Desert.

The following year, he and another cancer survivor trekked through northern Mongolia in freezing conditions.

Both trips were to raise funds for Singapore Cancer Society. 

Sharing how his wife has been his rock over the years, Mr Lakshmanan also highlighted the lack of social support for patients like him.

“For cancer patients, there’s nothing like speaking to someone who has walked the journey that you’re about to embark on,” he explained.

“While I had no support, I did not want others to go through the same thing."

In 2014, Mr Lakshmanan co-founded the Ostomy Association of Singapore, which looks into the needs of people who have to wear the stoma bag. 

He is also currently involved in Relay For Life, a global movement that raises funds for cancer treatment.

When he is not running the security services company in his day job, the vice-chair of colorectal patients support group Semi-Colons serves as the coordinator for the Cancer Can Give movement, which helps cancer survivors give back to society.

Mr Lakshmanan's efforts have not gone unnoticed – he was conferred the President’s Volunteerism and Philanthropy Award last November.

The award was the latest to join the six others he bagged over the years.

“Before I was diagnosed, I was just like any regular person going to work, paying the bills, dealing with stress. After the diagnosis, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect," said Mr Lakshmanan.

“You know the two most important days in a man’s life? The day he’s born and the day he finds out why.”