Brunei needs strong cancer awareness too

I got a call from my brother at 6 am this morning breaking the sad news that my first cousin on my mum's side had just passed away.  He died of brain cancer.  The saddest part was that he was about my age and his 3 children are still very small. His other older siblings abang yusop and abang johan also died of the same type of cancer in their early 40s not so long ago.  They were all very close to me as we live in the same village and one of their siblings abang ramli happens to be my eldest adopted brother. I came to the parents' house as early as I could to catch the last glimpse of him but unfortunately he was already shrouded in the white cloth as was normally the case for muslim's funeral. The parents were visibly distraught especially the mum. Who would bear the thought of losing her own three sons all in their very young age and over the same ailment? 

In my previous blogs, I did write a few entries about my mum being diagnosed with stomach cancer. She is now recovering well after her surgery. We are thankful to Allah that we manage to detect hers earlier. We continue to pray to Allah that there wont be any relapse.  There are many types of cancer and some can be very difficult to detect as the symptoms only show when it is already too late a stage (stage 4).  One scary thought is that cancer can be genetic. In fact, I now know that on my mum's side there is  preponderance of that risk. Apart from my first cousins I mentioned who just passed away, my mum's first cousin died of brain tumor including his own son some years ago too. My other first cousin whose mum is my mum's youngest sister also died of the same disease at a very young age. Strangely enough they first showed signs of schizophrenia or in malay "gimbaran" when they caught the ailment but nobody suspected brain tumor. As typical in malay belief, we like to say "kana buat" but this cannot be the case. 

I often tell my siblings that our risks to cancer is very high. That is why I have been asking my older and younger brother to quit smoking which always fall on deaf ears.  I know tobacco smoke has been linked to many forms of cancer especially lung cancer as it contains over fifty known carcinogens.  Although genetics may play a role but a change to a healthier lifestyle may greatly reduce that risk of getting cancer.

To my cousin, may Allah bless your soul. Al- fatiha