What can a person handicapped by cancer do?
Lin Mu-ching (林睦卿) often gets asked thate question when she visits cancer patients in hospital.
“You can do whatever a healthy person can do,” she patiently answers.
PHOTO: CNA
These are not empty words of encouragement. Lin means what she says and through her own life has proven her belief to be true.
The 32-year-old from Taipei has become a motivator for thousands of cancer patients since the Formosa Cancer Foundation, moved by her strong sense of optimism and ability to overcome her difficulties, invited her to be their quasi-ambassador, sponsoring her to make speeches at hospitals, schools and elsewhere.
In order to share her story with more people, the cancer foundation hired two directors to shoot a film featuring her triumph over her disease and handicaps.
To the delight of the foundation, the film shot by a crew of four in four months was one of the five finalists out of 250 films in the category “Personal Stories” at the International Cancer Film Festival organized by the International Union Against Cancer in Geneva, Switzerland, in August.
Through the film, the foundation hopes Lin’s story will inspire more cancer sufferers and disadvantaged people to not lose hope and to pursue their dreams.
Lin was an ordinary girl who aspired to be an actress. She was looking forward to studying at art school and was to eager to take up a career as a performance artist.
But her dream was dashed at the age of 16 when, while playing basketball at school, she bumped into another player and fell. She felt pain in her left knee that worsened over the next few days.
Her father took her to see many doctors and finally discovered that she had osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer that largely affects children.
The only treatment was to amputate her left leg and even with this aggressive surgery her chances of surviving for another five years were only 20 percent.
Her father told her the proposed surgery and the dim prognosis just before she was carried into the operating theater.
When she regained consciousness, Lin no longer felt the pain that had plagued her. She used her right leg to try and touch her left leg, but found it was no longer there. All that remained was a 12.5cm stump. She broke down in tears.
For a long period after being released from hospital Lin was gripped with a strong feeling of self-pity and anger that this terrible disease had happened to her when she had done nothing wrong.
She could no longer walk or run, let alone pursue her dream of becoming an actress.
The operation interrupted her studies at school and made it difficult for her to find a job. Her father worried that his daughter might have to eke out a miserable living working as a fortuneteller.
Suffering from depression, Lin eventually found work as a telephone operator and led an unhappy life until one day she realized nobody was going to give her an opportunity to change her life unless she pursued opportunity herself.
She went back to the hobbies she had before her surgery, such as swimming, hiking and dancing, and learned to ignore the strange looks of others.
Lin even completed a course to become a television host and got a job with the Public Television Service.
It was then that her active pursuit of her goals in defiance of the dim prognosis she had received came to the attention of the Formosa Cancer Foundation, which encouraged her to share her experiences in fighting cancer with others.
Her speeches have since helped many to appreciate what they have, rather than regret what they have lost, and the most touching part of her speech is when she dances.
Her dance teacher made her sit on a stool or on the floor and use mainly her hands and arms to express the rhythm and motif of the dance.
At the film’s Taipei premiere on Dec. 16, Formosa Cancer Foundation vice president Jacqueline Whang Peng (彭汪嘉康) lauded Lin’s courage, which has helped her to survive 16 years after the surgery, against all the odds.
Lin told the audience that she somehow appreciates her loss of a limb, because it brought out the best in her and the most colorful part of her life began after the operation.
She has named the film A Gift: 12.5cm and many of the audience, after watching the film, agreed with her.
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
GENSLER SURVEY: ‘Economic infrastructure is not enough. A city needs to inspire pride, offer moments of joy and foster a sense of belonging,’ the company said Taipei was named the city with the “highest staying power” in the world by US-based design and architecture firm Gensler. The Taiwanese capital earned the top spot among 65 cities across six continents with 64 percent of Taipei respondents in a survey of 33,000 people saying they wanted to stay in the city. Rounding out the top five were Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (61 percent), Singapore (59 percent), Sydney (58 percent) and Berlin (51 percent). Sixth to 10th place went to Monterrey, Mexico; Munich, Germany; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Vancouver; and Seoul. Cities in the US were ranked separately, with Minneapolis first at
The New Taipei City Government today warned about the often-overlooked dangers of playing in water, and recommended safe swimming destinations to cool off from the summer heat. The following locations in the city as safe and fun for those looking to enjoy the water: Chienshuiwan (淺水灣), Baishawan (白沙灣), Jhongjiao Bay (中角灣), Fulong Beach Resort (福隆海水浴場) and Sansia District’s (三峽) Dabao River (大豹溪), New Taipei City Tourism and Travel Department Director-General Yang Tsung-min (楊宗珉) said. Outdoor bodies of water have variables outside of human control, such as changing currents, differing elevations and environmental hazards, all of which can lead to accidents, Yang said. Sudden
Tropical Storm Podul has formed over waters north-northeast of Guam and is expected to approach the seas southeast of Taiwan next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The 11th Pacific storm of the year developed at 2am over waters about 2,660km east of Oluanpi (歐鑾鼻), Pingtung County — Taiwan's southernmost tip. It is projected to move westward and could have its most significant impact on Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday next week, the CWA said. The agency did not rule out the possibility of issuing a sea warning at that time. According to the CWA's latest update, Podul is drifting west-northwest
RSS