International Getaways...

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Hi! Founder of Twin Beach Sanctuary here. There is a reason why we encourage cancer survivors to join us on our retreats. On top of our team running retreats both on the island and in Hawai'i & Vietnam, I wrote my book ‘Even The Most Positive Person In The World Gets Cancer’, after deciding that the reading materials available for patients were too complex and medical-based. 

I am a single mother diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. Since then, she promoted her book titled ‘Even The Most Positive Person In The World Gets Cancer’, travelling back and forth from Malaysia and Australia to spread the word. 

There is not enough acknowledgment of the emotional aspects of the disease, which can contribute significantly to the health and wellbeing of an individual. One should not underestimate their emotional stress. My Kuala Lumpur official book launch and signing was at the Kinokuniya bookstore, KLCC in July 2013, and for my Australian official book launch it was at the prestige Melbourne Writers' Festival in August 2013 which was positively received.

I had a goal of being a ‘voice’ for those who were too afraid to speak out or didn’t know how to express the pain of what they were going through. I would like to emphasize that it is not solely about ‘battling’ cancer, but learning to LIVE with the disease itself, as more people are surviving cancer longer. "Grieving is an essential part of coping with a significant loss,” I say and  “It is an individual process and some experience more emotional trauma than others. We need to be able to address our emotions, without feeling that we will be judged or perceived as weak”. 

My book also works as a guidebook for family and friends, covering issues that are commonly experienced by newly diagnosed patients. Every page of text has an accompanied illustration by cartoonist, Sam Hepburn, and it’s easy reading, as the title suggests is written with humour, not to take away from the seriousness of the disease, rather to encourage a more positive way of looking at life.