Actress and former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Janice Koh has shared her experience fighting cancer on social media. Koh, 48, wrote in a post on Instagram on Saturday that she had been diagnosed with tongue cancer in late July.
“What started out as a small ulcer (which I promptly ignored as I continued to work and travel) turned out to be malignant,” she wrote. “This diagnosis brought my life to a standstill.”
Koh said that over the past three months, she had two operations followed by chemo radiation treatments to not only remove any visible cancer, but also reduce the chances of it coming back.
“For me, an actor, the discovery of this tumour was a huge blow because I knew it would have a tremendous impact on my speech and my work,” she said. “Yet there was never any doubt that my priority was to survive this, to live, and to be around for my kids and my family for the long term.”
Koh is married to Lionel Yeo, the outgoing chief executive of Singapore Sports Hub, and they have two sons.