We had a birthday gathering last Sunday for one of my friend’s birthday in December. It has been 2 months since our last gathering with my friends.

It was a cold and rainy day and the AYCE hot pot couldn’t be more than perfect.

Since I need to keep a watch on my net carb intake, I specifically requested to have one of the broth pan to be just plain water. Yes you read it right: plain hot water. I wasn’t even bother to choose the plain broth because you never know what kind of seasonings they used. Luckily there were my 2 other friends who were on board on this 🙂

Basically I just had some veggies and meat slices with some quail eggs.

We were catching up on stuff and I heard some news. One of our friend is expecting his first child (wow) and another one is expecting her third child (wowza!!).

But there’s one news that totally shocked me.

I heard A, whom I haven’t seen for a while is currently battling stage 4a nasopharyngeal cancer.

This was one shocking news to all of us. We all know she’s a very strong willed girl, works a lot and hard to get to where she is now and in the end she has to get this cancer? It’s just so unbelievable! I might not be her best friend and I might not get along with some of her personality but I do admire her on certain levels.

Here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia regarding its epidemiology:

NPC is uncommon in the United States and most other nations, representing less than 1 case per 100,000 in most populations.[4] but is extremely common in southern regions of China,[7] particularly in Guangdong accounting for 18% of all cancers in China.[6] It is sometimes referred to as Cantonese cancer because it occurs in about 25 cases per 100,000 people in this region, 25 times higher than the rest of the world.[6] It is also quite common in Taiwan.[6] This could be due to the South East Asian diet which typically includes consumption of salted vegetables, fish and meat.[6] While NPC is seen primarily in middle-aged persons in Asia, a high proportion of African cases appear in children. The cause of increased risk for NPC in these endemic regions is not entirely clear.[2]

Ironically she’s from China. But why she has to get this?

This news still shocks me and I almost want to think that someone just played a prank on us, but it’s for real.

So dear friends, our health is very important to us. I’ve lost my uncle 2 years ago to some kind of cancer as well (throat cancer?), 10 years ago one of my friend was diagnosed with an early stage of breast cancer but she did the surgery before it even spread out. And now my friend is battling a cancer. I promise myself that I want to live my life to the fullest, not taking my health for granted.

Have a great week.

• Tweet