Elden, Malaysia

I came from a village just below Mount Kinabalu itself. The mount itself has always been my backyard. I thought about climbing it. I would always tell myself: one day, one day. The symptoms started happening in the year of 2021. Whenever I tried to speak, I would cough with my whole throat and just feel a bit cold and weird. When I met Doctor Ahmed, he just showed me the X-ray. There was a shadow on my left lung. These were very scary moments. Do I have any family history of cancer? No. I never smoke and I never drink. It's just bad luck.

I was looking at my son. At that time, he was only a few months old. The thought of not being able to see him grow up really crushed me. I decided: let's not be sad anymore. The doctors had a plan. By the fifth cycle, it was a good result. And I felt great as well. But the good time didn't last long.

I kept on thinking, what should I do next? Then the thought of Mount Kinabalu popped up in my mind. Maybe I should do it. I can't really describe that feeling to you. You are looking at the mountain so far ahead: that's where I will be tomorrow. We started the climb in the middle of darkness. I was definitely not well-rested. I had a severe headache. And then we reached about 4000m up. I didn't expect it to be so impactful.

People still think cancer is a death sentence. And I want to prove them wrong. I understand that this cannot be applicable to everyone that has cancer because everyone has different situations. But I want to make cancer the least of my concern.

I have end stage cancer and I'm here and I'm breathing. I have still light in my eyes and I'm still looking forward to tomorrow. 

Cancer is not your enemy. It's not really your end. It. It may even be your beginning.

YouTube video "The man and the mountain – Enabling enriched lives while living with cancer" produced for AstraZeneca by BBC StoryWorks as part of the Rewriting Cancer series presented by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC)