Warna 94.2 FM interview on 6th and 13th February 2013 at Tamu Warna Petang between 5-6p.m

Dr. Choo Bok Ai will be interviewed live on air in Malay Language about Head and Neck Cancer. This program is in line with the World Cancer Day on the 2nd February to increase awareness of cancer prevention, screening and treatment.

To hear the program live - click on the link on internet:

http://entertainment.xin.msn.com/en/radio/warna942/

Otherwise, tune into your radio.

You can also check out the radio station facebook - dated 6th February and 13th February and you can post your questions online and it will be answered - Live

http://www.facebook.com/warna942

Using Chinese herbs to manage the side effects of radiation therapy

Dear Members

The NPC One Heart exco committee is happy to announce that the February month talk will be on "Using Chinese Herbs to manage the side effects of Radiation Therapy". Every year TCM is a favourite topic of the members as evidenced by the numerous questions and attendance at previous talks. There many in our group too who are seeing a TCM practitioner even years after completing their treatment,. 

Members will be delighted to know that the speaker is from Eu Yan San which is reputable for premium Chinese medicinal herbs and top notch TCM Physician . Our support group is thankful to  Eu Yan San for giving this privilege to our members. The speaker will not be sharing the clinical aspect of the illness but the using of TCM Herbs to manage the side effects.  She will also be answering members’ questions after the talk. I am sure the staff from nuh and ttsh will be interested too as these are the questions that the patients often asked them.  

The speaker is  Dr Tang Yue . She graduated from Nanjin University of TCM with a Ph.D in integrated ( Traditional Chinese and Western ) Medicine as well as a Bachelor in Traditional Chinese Medicine from Shanghai University of TCM ( China ) She is a registered TCM physician and acupuncturist with more than 15 years of clinical practise. Her special areas of interest include acupuncture for various eye conditions, pain management , cancer management insomnia as well as beauty and wellness.

The meeting will starts at 2pm with several survivors sharing about their TCM experiences . The Speaker will come after her clinic hours on Saturday . The talk will begin at 3pm .

Dear Members if you have any other questions please do email me so that I can forward to Dr Tang Yue for her to answer them . This way the talk will be more relevant to your needs .

The talk will be in Mandarin with a translator.

Mr. Peter Tang

NPC cancer survivor

Volunteer/ Chair in NPC One Heart Support Group

World Cancer Day 2nd February 2013

Hi everyone,

I would like to extend an invitation to join NCIS in the World Cancer Day event from 4-8p.m on the 2nd February 2013.

For those who had cancer, winning against the fight for cancer is a significant event in their lives. For those who has no cancer, there is a 1 in 4 chance of cancer occurring during their lifetime. For those who work with cancer patients, it has been our desire and goal to cure cancers and to celebrate this event. For those who cannot be cured, it is our goal to make the process of living with cancer easier and to make the end of life event bearable and peaceful. For all these reason, the World Cancer Day is marked on February 4 not only to  raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment but also to stand together as one to mark this event and to be proud of being a healthcare worker and a cancer survivor. 

These are some of the websites for info:


http://www.worldcancerday.org/wcd-home
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/annual/world_cancer_day/en/index.html
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/news/features/world-cancer-day-2012


All are welcome.

For NPC patients, I have organised a special transport with NCIS Corp Comm to make a bus available at 4p.m  to transport all of you who are going to the TCM talk on the 2nd Feb at NUH Tower block lobby. The TCM talk will last from 2-4p.m. At 4p.m, please come down on time to the Tower block lobby to board the bus to West  Coast park. There will also be bus transport back to NUH Tower block at 730p.m and to Kent Ridge MRT. 

For the TCM talk, it will be interesting to come and learn more and to invite your other friends as well from other hospitals or who have other cancers besides NPC as the topic should be general use of TCM in cancer and specifically at Radiotherapy related side effects. 

Here is our World Cancer day facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/World-Cancer-Day-Singapore/134282220062188

Click LIKE! ;) 

Here is the youtube video on NCIS Seeds of Hope event Nov 2012. You may spot yourself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-GWATJVe7A

With kind regards,

Dr. Choo Bok Ai
Consultant Radiation Oncologist
NCIS- NUH - TTSH
Assistant Professor 
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine NUS

NCIS Year End Celebration - Seed of Hope

This year, we will be having a joint celebration with the various support groups from NCIS. There will be individual sharing, medical talks, food, presentations by cancer survivors, carnival activities and sand art performance. Please come and join us. Open to all. Free admission. Please register attendance based on the contact provided above. Thanks.

Post event comment: Here is the video for event uploaded on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-GWATJVe7A

Head and Neck Public forum 2012

This year Head and Neck Cancer public forum was held at Tower Block Auditorium, NUH. There were 295 people who registered. The feedback comments were excellent.

Some of the wordings were like

"Best cancer forum attended so far"
"Motivational"
"Inspirational"
"Well organised. Good job"
"More of this forum - to hold every 6 months"

Below are some of the photos. A huge thank you to all the Radiotherapy Treatment Centre, Cancer Centre and ENT staffs from both NUH and TTSH. A special thank you to NCIS Corp Comm staffs who did a lot of preparatory work.

(From L-R) A/Prof Thomas Loh, Dr. Lim Chwee Ming, Dr. Ivan Tham, Dr. Lee Khai Mun, Dr. Choo Bok Ai,
Dr. Jeeve Kanagalingam, A/Prof Goh Boon Cher

(From L-R) Group Sharing. Jennifer, Dave, Carol, Richard, Robert, Yik Kwong,  Dr. Choo Bok Ai

Sharing from experiences and encouragement 

Volunteers for NPC support group- NPC OneHeart

300 people packed the auditorium and gave the forum a thumb up. "Best cancer forum attended" Keep it up

Excellence in Public Service Award 2012 - Mr. Peter Tang

Mr. Peter Tang has been the Chairperson of the NUH/TTSH NPC One Heart Support Group for the past 4 years. He was diagnosed and treated for NPC 22 years ago. Since then, he has been helping other cancer survivors and newly diagnosed NPC patients in their cancer journey towards recovery. His  passion and motivation to help other fellow survivors had won him the Excellence in Public Service Award 2012. The photo above was the prize giving ceremony at Marina Mandarin Hotel in May 2012 with Mr. Teo Chee Hean (Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore) as the guest of honour. Well done Peter! Keep up the good work.

Hearing Loss after treatment of NPC- How do we manage it?

Radiotherapy performed near the head and neck often have a common side effect – hearing impairments and other hearing/audio related problems  Several  members in our npc group  are now experiencing hearing difficulties of various degree as a result of the treatment done . 

What are the long and short term implications of this radiotherapy induced ear injuries? Are there better prevention and management measures available for members with this problem ? What about the use of hearing aids and cochlear implants? Will these help? 

What percentages of members suffer from acute middle ear infections, constant ringing in the ears (tinnitus), discharge and in some cases hearing loss? Is  the Eustachian tube damage as the result of the treatment? 

Besides hearing loss,  how about the other function of the ear – balancing.  Is a sense of transient imbalance a side effect too?

The Speaker : Dr Dr Liu Jia Ying

If any of you have concerns of the above please do not MISS this coming meeting. The details of the meeting are in the attachment above. Please email me to confirm your registration

For members who have difficulty opening up the attachment here is a brief info of the talk

Date : 12^th October ( Friday )

Topic : Hearing loss . How do We Manage It ?

Speaker : Dr Liu Jia Ying Time : 7 – 9pm

Venue : TTSH Conference Room 1

Peter Tang