RESILIENT WOMEN IN MICE
FIGHTING
spirit With messages of resilience and inspiration, Meetings hears from some of our Top Women in MICE on beating the Big C.
VANESSA PERUMAL
Managing Director, JT Communications
TOP WOMEN IN MICE JUDGE 2020+2021 In March 2019, I developed a very bad flu that would not get better no matter how many doctors I visited. I went for X-rays and tested for symptoms ranging from swine flu and bronchitis to laryngitis, pneumonia and asthma, until I eventually saw Dr Ismail, an ear-nose-and-throat specialist, in October last year. I am a strategist and very good at what I do, and I knew something was wrong. When Dr Ismail said it looks like it’s spasmodic dysphonia – even though I had been tested for cancer and it did not show in any of the scans and X-rays – the C-word was always at the back of my mind. On 9 May 2020, I was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, which is a rare cancer derived from transformed cells that produce cartilage. Mine was in my larynx and did not show in any of the scans. My journey has included many months of testing, which, oddly enough, has also been filled with adventure. Between December 2018 and my operation this year on 13 May, I travelled to Cuba, Mexico, New Orleans, Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, Chennai, Sri Lanka, Durban, the Kruger National Park – I even went to Finland on a media tour. All with my illness. I really battled climbing the mountains in Sri Lanka and there were times I thought I would die from breathlessness. I had no idea that I had a rare form of cancer; by the time I went for my operation, I was barely able to breathe in 5% of air. Learning I had cancer and would undergo major surgery with just four days’ notice was, personally, the greatest challenge. The news came during Covid-19’s most severe lockdown, which was very tough for my family. Because of social distancing, no physical contact was allowed,
20 • MEETINGS l JULY/AUGUST 2020
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