I am delighted to let you know that we were given the good news today that thankfully MJ’s cancer is only at stage one.

It is a peculiar day to write the words – ‘delighted’ when referring to cancer, the feeling of excitement in the hospital with everyone we then went to meet was so much better than the last few weeks. They had all truly believed that it was greater than stage 1. It is a bizarre sensation to be pleased with a diagnosis, when it is still cancer.

Why did they think this? – Because of the size of the growth on the cervix. The Dr last week said when she has seen something this size previously it had spread to the rest of the body. She was as delighted as we were today. The atmosphere around the Dr’s and nurses today was of pure elation.

From the moment we went to the hospital I kept being told, send MJ home, terminate her employment and send her home. This is typical and acceptable behavior for families to do in Asia, it is just the way it is.

We said NO – we want to do all we can with the insurance we have and only then send her home and even then we will do what we can to raise funds for living expenses and treatment in the Philippines.

So - what next?

The serious stuff. The insurance will cover her chemotherapy here in Singapore and then we will continue to raise funds for the operation that she will require once chemo is completed. More than likely this will take place in the Philippines. PhilHealth will pay for a % of the operation but she will need to pay the rest and have living expenses (plus her children’s educational costs) whilst she is not working.

She will have 4 rounds of chemo starting on Monday 26^th Sep. Each round will be a 3 week cycle. After 2 lots of chemo she will have an MRI scan and after round 4 she will have another MRI scan.

What we hope for is that it reduces enough for them to go in and remove it. The insurance money left will not cover that operation. Therefore she will go to Manila for it.

They are optimistic that the chemo will treat the cancer, what they have warned us though is that this type of chemo has a 50% chance of returning.

Our focus now is that we get treatment and keep MJ well enough so she can still work and provide for her children’s education.

MJ wants to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone for their thoughts, prayers and kind donations. It makes her very tearful every time I show her the updates and the messages that she gets. She is truly thankful.