[ad_1]
SINGAPORE – Chief Minister Emeritus Goh Chok Tong will undergo four weeks of radiation therapy following the removal of a lump in his larynx.
This is to ensure that all cancer cells are killed.
“Like the weather these days, it never rains, but for me it is pouring down,” the former prime minister wrote in his most recent post.
“What a way to celebrate the holiday season!”
In the post, Goh said the suspicious lump in his larynx was found to have cancerous squamous cells. Although the scans found no traces of these cells on your neck or chest, you will undergo radiation therapy to make sure all cancer cells are killed.
“I share my medical episodes to encourage everyone to undergo regular or annual health checkups,” Goh said, encouraging people to seek medical help if they discover their voice has changed and they have a lump in their throat.
The Ministry of Health has a subsidized medical screening program, called Screen For Life, which heavily subsidizes the cost of screening for diseases such as cervical, breast, and colorectal cancer.
“Ignorance, delay, and denial can be costly,” Goh wrote. “Find and treat cancer early, the five-year survival rate is over 90 percent. If you do it after it has spread, the survival rate drops below 30 percent.”
The five-year survival rate refers to the percentage of patients who are alive five years after the cancer has been found and treated.
The lump was the latest in a series of health problems the 79-year-old statesman has experienced in recent years.
In November, he documented his surgery to remove a “large” kidney stone and the subsequent recovery process in several Facebook posts.
Earlier this month, she also wrote about how she saved herself from an asthma attack and a near-total blockage of two arteries at the last minute.
“My stormy rains will pass,” Goh said in his latest post. “I hope the blue sky is clear before the Chinese New Year, and more good years thereafter.”
[ad_2]
