COVER STORY
living up it Ten years after her much publicised liver transplant, Andrea De Cruz is glowing with health. She tells Allswell how the near death experience has transformed her life for the better. By FAIROZA MANSOR PHOTOGRAPHER KELVIN CHIA STYLIST STEVE THIO HAIR MAXINE TAY, STORM CENTURY SQUARE MAKE-UP YUAN SNG CLOTHES LAI CHAN AT RAFFLES HOTEL
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WELLNESS FOR ALL
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he liver transplant was a success, but the doctor told Andrea De Cruz that her lifespan from then onwards would possibly be for 26 years. That was in 2002, after Andrea — then 27, and a MediaCorp artiste — had nearly died when her liver failed because of the Slim 10 pills she had taken. She is alive today because her knight in shining armour, her then fiancé — and now husband — fellow artiste Pierre Png donated part of his liver to her. Fast forward to July 2012 and a bare-‐faced Andrea is at the photo studio looking radiant. As she waits for the make-‐up artist to start working on her face, an upbeat Andrea chats openly about how things have gone for her in the past decade. “I don’t think much about the [26-‐year] deadline anymore. If the liver doesn’t fail me, it might be something else,” says the 37-‐year-‐old. “I just live every day as it is.” Taking each day as it comes for
Andrea includes popping an array of pills every morning. Among them are anti-‐rejection drugs as well as calcium pills, glucosamine tablets, evening primrose capsules, omega-‐3 fatty acids soft gels, and DHA brain supplements. Andrea has to take the anti-‐rejection drugs for the rest of her life to prevent her body from rejecting the transplanted liver. The other pills are health supplements she considers necessary for her body to receive all the vitamins and nutrients it needs. A familiar face on television in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Andrea put showbiz on the back burner after her operation. Now, she is one of four partners of CINQ Salon, a hair salon at Telok Ayer Street. She became involved
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“I don’t think much about the deadline anymore. I just live every day as it is.”
in 2007 when her long-‐time hairstylist and “go-‐to guy for everything”, Henri Leong, invited her to come on board the team as a partner. A second branch of the hair salon opened in November 2011 at Scotts Square. “When I was a little girl, I loved to play with my mother’s and elder sister’s hair. I would ask if I could wash their hair, and then I would blow-‐dry it for them,” Andrea recalls with a smile. She visits the two salons every day to look after their day-‐to-‐day operations, and also plays a part in managing the team and hiring new staff.
Beating the odds
Apart from the cocktail of pills and supplements she now pops, Andrea has changed her diet as well. Raw food like sashimi as well as some kinds of sushi are now out of bounds, as are shellfish — among them crabs, lobsters, crayfish, clams and shrimps.
COVER STORY
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I want to live a full life and I want to live it well.
Another lifestyle change she had to make is to keep out of the sun because sun exposure puts her at risk of skin cancer. And a side effect of the anti-‐rejection medication is that her bone density is being compromised, making her more susceptible to osteoporosis. Now, Andrea makes a conscious effort to eat healthily. Breakfast is usually a bowl of muesli cereal with yogurt and a slice of papaya. Or it could be peanut butter on wholegrain bread drizzled with honey, and a banana. Lunch is usually simple, perhaps fish soup. And as much as possible, Andrea makes it a point to have dinner at home. “I’m out most of the day at the salons so lunch is something the staff buys for me. I request for non-‐oily dishes but outside food is inevitably
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WELLNESS FOR ALL
laden with MSG and salt,” says Andrea who prefers her food to be on the bland side. “At least I can be sure that the home-‐cooked food I eat is MSG-‐free. I can also cut back on the salt content if needs be.” She adds, “My helper cooks really good Indonesian food but of course I tell her to go easy on the coconut milk in dishes such as sayur lodeh (vegetables cooked in coconut milk) and sambal prawns. “My mother has also taught her to cook healthier dishes like steamed fish and soups.” A gym bunny before the operation, Andrea used to work out every day religiously, joking that the gym was her second home. But after the transplant
she has gone easy on herself. These days, to maintain a healthy weight of 51kg, the 1.63m-‐tall Andrea works out three times a week. She jogs for 30 minutes around her neighbourhood in the eastern part of Singapore, and does lightweights in her home gym for another 15 minutes. . “Running — or just sweating it out in general — is one of the things that helps me to relax. It’s great for letting off some steam. And getting massages too,” she says. Another “big source of relaxation” for Andrea is spending time with the couple’s two dogs, a pair of shih tzus named Woofie and Oreo. “No matter how tough my day has been and how stressed out I am, the moment I pick my dogs up, I’m immediately calmer. They warm my heart,” says Andrea, who lets on that she hardly goes on long trips because she can’t bear to be apart from her pets for too long.
Surging forth
Having a support system — helmed by Pierre — certainly helped Andrea cope with her condition over time.
PHOTOS: Getty Images; VGO GYM BALL: World of Sports, Paragon
“Pierre is always very encouraging when it comes to me doing something,” she says, referring to how her husband of nine years always lends her his support — whether it is starting a business or pursuing a pet cause. Andrea is now involved with Make-‐A-‐Wish Foundation, an organisation that grants the wishes of terminally ill children. She is the chairperson of its fundraising committee. “I love children but I can’t have them so I guess it’s my way of giving back,” she says. “Somehow, I managed to rope Pierre in so he’s now the ambassador for the foundation.” The couple also finds comfort in their faith. Both Roman Catholics, they are regular Sunday churchgoers. Andrea’s philosophy in life? “There’s no point crying over spilt milk. I want to live a full life and I want to live it well,” she says. And although she has moved on from showbiz and into business, Andrea — who considers hosting her forte — would consider appearing in front of the camera again should an appropriate opportunity come along. She hosted the second season of Unexpected Access, a television series on MediaCorp’s Channel 5 that aired in February 2010. The first episode saw her gamely following the exploits of a group of volunteers from the Por Teck Tung Foundation in Bangkok, Thailand. Volunteers at the foundation tend to the injured, collect the bodies (and sometimes the remains) of road accidents and crime victims, and provide funeral services for them. Indeed, nothing much ruffles her feathers these days. When asked about her pet peeve, Andrea pauses and thinks hard but eventually draws a blank. “Life’s too short to sweat the small stuff you know?” she counters.
TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR HEALTH
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Make it a habit to moisturise your skin and apply sun block
“The minute your skin is dry is when you start looking old. So don’t ever let your skin dry out.”
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Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
For someone closing in on the big 40, Andrea scoffs at the idea of “ageing gracefully”. According to her, you can’t stop time or challenge gravity, but that doesn’t mean you just sit there and do nothing.
Sleep with a thin layer of facial cream mask
“This is a tip I got from one of my favourite make-up artists and I found that it works better than moisturiser! I do it all the time, and I realise that when people comment that I have wrinkles on my face, it’s because I have been slacking off the regime.”
“Water should be everybody’s buddy. Lately I have also been taking this organic, caffeine-free tea that’s good for digestion. After the transplant, I somehow have a lot of indigestion issues. So the tea helps a lot.”
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Be diligent about health supplements
“As you get older, you don’t get enough nutrients from the food you consume.”
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Say yes to a little physical improvement but don’t get obsessed with the idea of perfection.
“I always get asked if I would consider plastic surgery. Why not! If I need it, I’d do it — no big deal!”
Jul-Sep 7