Sengolmany Irudayam had an uneasy feeling about a lump in her breast, but the first doctor she went to said it was probably nothing.

I felt something like a pimple near my armpit when I did my breast self-examination,

the homemaker and a mother of four says.

The lump continued to grow, and one night, Sengol dreamt of Mother Mary asking her to go to the doctor. The following day, she received a call to confirm her appointment for a mammogram. 

While she didn’t make this appointment, she went anyway, and found out she had breast cancer (stage 3B). She was swiftly treated with radiotherapy and chemotherapy. 

Sixten years after her treatment, Sengol is a cancer survivor and is one of our campaign ambassadors, helping to advocate the importance of cancer awareness and early detection.

Breast cancer can be cured if it is found and treated early. Be cancer alert and get checked.

To find out more about the signs and symptoms, click here.

Mahani Kassim was diagnosed in May 2016 with triple negative breast cancer (an aggressive form of cancer which is harder to treat) after a routine mammogram showed abnormalities in her left breast. She immediately did her chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions.

However, recently she found another lump in her right breast. And this time, she feels she is more prepared to go through the surgery, whatever the outcome may be. “When I was diagnosed two years ago, I didn’t know anything about cancer. No one in my immediate family had cancer and so I had no idea how it affected someone. I was going in blind,” says Mahani, who works with the Examinations Board in the Education Ministry.

People came to me with all kinds of information and solutions. Some urged me to try alternative treatments although that is something I would never want to do. I was also clueless about the many myths about curing cancer, but now I have real knowledge and insights from the women cancer support group under National Cancer Society Malaysia.

Today, the mother of three is one of our campaign ambassadors, helping advocate the importance of cancer awareness and early detection.

Breast cancer can be cured if it is found and treated early. Be cancer alert and get checked.

Always seek your doctor’s opinion on treatment options. To find out more, click here.

Initially, when Irene Tham discovered a lump in her right breast five years ago, she didn’t do anything about it. She told herself it was nothing but after a couple of months of ignoring it, she decided to just go for a check-up. As she was over 40 years old, she got herself screened through a mammogram.

Even before the result came out, the doctor already told her that she had cancer because the lump was clearly visible on her breast and by the time she was due for her operation, the lump had already grown 2cm in size.

She finally snapped out of her ignorance and took immediate action on her health and well-being. She went through operations, a couple more tests and a subsequent 25 sessions of radiotherapy without chemotherapy after her operation.

She also went through a lumpectomy and had some of her lymph nodes removed.

Today, she is our campaign ambassadors, helping advocate the importance of cancer awareness and early detection.

Her advice: If your body is telling you that something is not right. Get it checked immediately.

Breast cancer can be cured if it is found and treated early. Be cancer alert and get checked.

To find out more breast cancer, click here.