Tuesday, June 24, 2008

One Good Friend, A Survivor!

Jarrod Ng
20 years old
He is available and up for grabs
6 feet and more
Wants a tall girl(not like me)
Fluffy and nice to cuddle
Bid starts now!

Compliments to unforseenable.blogspot.com





Jarrod Ng, 17, and mum, Mrs Pearl Ng, fought to save the teen's leg.





That was one possibility Jarrod Ng, 17, faced.





The young man was suffering from bone cancer.But thanks to doctors here, his leg was spared.


Jarrod still has the use of his leg.But he is one of the many young people worldwide who are suffering from cancer.





Every year, 250,000 children are diagnosed with cancer worldwide.And many of them do not have access to proper treatment.To raise awareness of childhood cancers, today has been designated International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD). (See report on facing page.)


When the diagnosis was handed to Jarrod and his family, after a five-month battle with a pressing pain in his left knee, they were devastated.





Their tall, handsome boy was so healthy.He was into playing basketball and enjoying life like any other teenager.





The nagging pain that would not go away last year had taken them on a round of doctor visits.





TUMOURJarrod said in an interview with The New Paper:





'I had an MRI done to see what was wrong with my leg and it showed up a huge tumour just below my knee.'The tumour was about 14cm in length and 8cm in width. It was also about 8cm deep.





The reason it was not noticeable earlier was because Jarrod was tall and heavy.He stood at 1.93m and weighed 133kg.





But by the time the Malaysian boy came to Singapore to consult doctors here, the swelling caused by the tumour was visible.





Mrs Pearl Ng, Jarrod's mother, said: 'We had heard that there was a very good doctor here who operates on such cases and we wanted Jarrod to have the best care.'





She was referring to senior consultant Emeritus Professor Robert Pho at the National University Hospital (NUH).He pioneered limb salvage surgery for cancer patients.





The family has spent RM500,000 ($218,000) so far on Jarrod's treatment here.





They have depleted their savings and have also borrowed from family and friends.





Mrs Ng, a housewife, said: 'I was afraid that Jarrod might lose his leg.'





AMPUTATION


Amputation of the leg in order to remove the tumour was one of the three scenarios doctors painted for the family.





The other scenario: His upper and lower leg bones would be held together with screws until the bones fused to form a straight line.





Then he would not be able to bend his leg at all.





The last scenario was one Mrs Ng prayed hard for - that surgeons could remove all the tumour and fit Jarrod with a prosthesis (artificial device used to replace missing body parts), which would allow him to walk again.





On 12 Aug last year, after some initial chemotherapy sessions to shrink the tumour, he underwent an 11-hour operation led by Prof Pho.





The surgeon managed to remove the rest of the tumour from the bone.Prof Pho also removed the lower part of the left femur (thigh bone), the entire knee and a bit of the tibia (the larger of two bones in the leg below the knee).





With the prosthesis, Jarrod will be able to walk again but he won't be able to play basketball anymore.





Dr Koh Pei Lin, a registrar at NUH, is now looking after Jarrod when he comes here for follow-up treatment.





After the surgery, Jarrod returned to Kuala Lumpur for chemotherapy.





So far, he has undergone 21 courses and will need two more to complete his treatment.He and his mother were in Singapore last week for a check-up.





GOOD PROGNOSISSo far, his prognosis is quite good as the cancer has not spread.Dr Koh said: 'I would say he has a 70 per cent chance of remaining cancer-free for the next five years. And after five years, the chance of relapse is less.'





Finally, Mrs Ng and Jarrod say, they can see the light at the end of the tunnel.





Mrs Ng added:


'It's been very, very rough. He felt very sick from the chemotherapy, nauseous and suffered from ulcers in his mouth.'





During the first month of chemotherapy, Jarrod tried to sleep most of the time and ate very little.





He said: 'Nothing tasted good. I lost over 30kg. Now I weigh 101kg.'





His mother added: 'At the lowest point, he told me that if I would give him a knife, he would kill himself.'





Mrs Ng is now worried that Jarrod did not manage to save any sperm.'I'm afraid his future wife might mind,' she said.





Jarrod added: 'At that point, it seemed that we were all trying to save my life first.'When someone brought it up, I had already had several sessions of chemotherapy.'So even though I visited the sperm bank three or four times, I could not produce any sperm for freezing.'





But he is not too upset.'I'll adopt! I want to adopt a baby from Ethiopia like Angelina Jolie,' said the cheerful boy, who is aiming to take his O levels next year in Malaysia.He is expected to go back to school in a few months time.





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After a few years,





Jarrod is in HMC,currently finishing his last sem in foundation.





His acting damn lan c because his getting a new car and because his going to VW showroom which was my dream. Ehems!





His hair is curly now but fake curl one. His hair was once straight but due to chemo, his hair became curly,but ugly. =p (mine still nicer than urs)





He is a victim of bully by me(how lucky of him), but a very good friend of mine also.





To the ex gf of his, "you just lost something precious,you dumb bitch!"





And Jarrod owe me RM3.00 for secret recipi and starbucks(hopefully) if i get a higher mark than him in business and statistic

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