Tsai Li-chu (not her real name) recently went to the Taipei Office of the Labor Insurance Bureau to apply for a subsidy for injuries and handicaps under the Labor Insurance program.
Still reeling from the shock of having her womb and ovaries removed because of cancer one month ago — two years after having surgery on both breasts to remove malignant tumors — the 48-year-old felt she had had more than her share of misfortune.
The middle-aged female clerk behind the counter looked at the woeful woman after reviewing her application form and asked: “Do you still work?”
“No, I lost my job because of my disease. It took me a long time to recover from the surgery,” she replied.
“How do you live?” the clerk asked compassionately, because according to the application form, Tsai is single and her next of kin is an older brother in her hometown of Beipu Township (北埔) in Hsinchu County.
Tsai burst into tears, saying that she survived on compensation from an insurance policy that she bought several years ago, but might have to find another job after she recovers a little more from her surgery.
She said she lives alone in a rented room in Taipei and rarely contacts her unmarried brother, who is not in a position to give her any help, either emotionally or financially.
“Don’t cry, I am sure you will come through the lows of your life. Look at me, I have had both breasts removed because of cancer,” the clerk said sympathetically.
Tsai looked with surprise at the clerk, Lu Li-ying (呂俐瑩). With her grace, kindness, confidence and energy, no one would believe she was a cancer victim.
Lu was diagnosed with cancer in her right breast in 2001, and had an operation to remove the tumor, only to find a tumor in her other breast in 2008.
In addition to surgery, Lu underwent six grueling courses of chemotherapy and 31 courses of radiation therapy. Her suffering has left her with an affinity for people with the same problem, and she does her best to encourage them by recounting her own experience fighting the disease when they apply for labor insurance payments.
Most people facing breast cancer are anxious to know about their chances of survival. How long do I have to live? Will the whole breast be removed? Can I still be considered a woman without a breast? How will my children, my family, my husband manage without me?
“I can see all this anxiety and depression in the faces of the patients, and it is even more evident among those who don’t have the support of their families,” Lu said.
Many of them break down in tears in front of her, but often feel better after Lu offers them a shoulder to cry on and shows them by example that they can overcome the disease and live a normal life.
Despite having no training as a professional counselor, Lu provides them with valuable tips on coping with the disease and the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
For example, for people plagued with nausea caused by chemotherapy, Lu suggests that they keep a slice of ginger in their mouths to reduce the vomiting, while for those suffering from low white blood cell counts because of chemotherapy, she recommends that they eat mushrooms.
As a busy counter clerk, Lu cannot spend too much time talking to the claimants, so she often gives them her home number and urges them to call her after business hours, to the surprise of her colleagues.
Most of these people, many of whom are suffering from depression, feel great relief after talking with Lu, and some have kept in contact with her and have become her friends.
One of them is a woman who used to work as a cleaner at a local hotel, but who lost her job when a mastectomy left her unable to lift heavy things, such as mattresses.
Lu kept calling her and trying to find her a new job until the woman eventually landed a job as a house cleaner and the woman is now one of more than 50 people who have become friends with Lu through their shared experiences of the disease.
Chen Shin-cheh (陳訓徹), director of the Breast Surgery Department at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei, said the three steps to overcoming breast cancer are to know it, to face it and to defeat it.
Breast cancer has a five-year survival rate of about 85 percent, Chen said.
“Therapy of course is very important, but support from the people around the patient is also very important to help them through the whole process of treatment,” he said.
One day last month, Lu drove south to visit her family in her hometown of Jhudong (竹東) in Hsinchu County, with Tsai Li-chu in the passenger seat — the two have become good friends since their first encounter.
On the way, Tsai, who is a devoted Christian told Lu: “When I found I was suffering from cancer, I hated that God had forsaken me, but He didn’t, actually. Instead, He led me into my friendship with you, and gave me care through you.”
For Lu, her new friend’s praise is the greatest honor she can imagine.
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