Cancer-ridden former Singapore Silat champ feels like a burden to family, struggles to pay escalating medical bill

The life of a National Silat player, who had represented Singapore at the Paris Open and won silver and gold medals at the tender age of 13, came tumbling down when he suffered multiple seizures as he was preparing for the SEA Games when he was 15.

The boy, Mohd Izwan Shah, was subsequently diagnosed with a rare form of cancer – a combination of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Besides having his athletic career tragically cut short, Shah was devastated to find out that he would only have six months to live if an emergency bone marrow transplant was not successful.

Fortunately, his brother was found to be a perfect match and Shah survived the transplant. However, this was only the beginning of Shah’s painful ordeal.

In 2012, doctors found that cancer cells had spread to Shah’s stomach when they discovered a stomach tumor. Shah had to undergo another operation to remove the tumor.

In November 2016, Shah was diagnosed with typhoid cancer and doctors found 48 cancerous cells on his neck. The young adult who turns 24 this year underwent another surgery to remove the malignant cells this February.

The cost of all of these surgeries and treatments has depleted the funds in Shah’s father’s medisave account. Feeling as though he is a burden to his family, Shah has been trying to save money on his own by working as a dishwasher and a waiter.

Shah’s mother shared her son’s story online and appealed for help to manage the costs of more treatments that he has yet to undergo. She said:

“As parents, we’re very sad to see him going through this phase, and we wish we could help more, but circumstances prevent us from doing more to provide him with assistance.

“We hope through this platform, to raise $60,000, to help Shah to continue his Hematology, Radiotherapy for his head & neck, and for his anxiety issue, he needs to see a speech therapist.

“He’s been having slurred conversation ever since he gone through his radiotherapy, which was the side effect he’s facing.

“We plead for your kind heart and generous support to help my boy to pull through this ordeal, otherwise, he’s refusing therapy. He’s always a good boy and the good thing about him is he’s taking life very positively.”

To give, please visit give.asia/story/help_my_boy_mohd_shah_to_stand_on_his_feet.