KUALA LUMPUR: Though facing health issues since the age of seven and now a cancer survivor at 11-years-old, Thanusha Suresh is determined to become a doctor in the future.
The youngster was diagnosed with Distal Tibia Osteosarcoma (bone cancer) at seven.
Her mother, Hemavathi Subramaniam, 30, said she came to know of her daughter's bone cancer following a medical checkup at Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (PPUM) in 2017.
"She was complaining of constant tingling and pain in her legs, to a point she could not walk without feeling pain, and it also disrupted her sleep.
"My husband and I took her to PPUM, where the doctors who attended to and investigated her case ran tests and found out that there were cancer cells in the.bones of her right leg.
"Nobody in mine and my husband's families ever had any history of cancer. Thanusha and her twin, Tanishan, were growing up normally," she told the New Straits Times over a virtual interview today.
"The doctors informed us the cancer was caught early and it could be eradicated with chemotherapy,"
Hemavathi also quit her job to look after Thanusha who was also taken out of schoo to enable her to undergo treatment.
"She had just started Standard 1. She sat for the mid-year exam before she stopped going to school and began home-schooling.
"It was heartbreaking to see her trying to understand why she had to stop going to school, while her twin continued schooling," she said.
Hemavathi said her husband, Suresh Shanmugam, 34, worked as a factory cleaner in the morning and a security guard at the same factory in the evening to make ends meet and for the treatment cost.
"We knew the costs for chemotherapy is high. We used up every sen we have to pay for the treatment," she said.
Hemavathi has since returned to her job as a secretary, while her husband now has worked as a full-time Grab driver earning RN1,200 a month. The financial pressure on her daughter's treatment remained. This was despite receiving financial help for Thanusha's chemotherapy from the Social Welfare Department from 2017 to 2018.
"On April 30 this year, the doctors amputated her right leg. It was the last option remaining as her bones kept getting infected and we've gone through several surgeries to remove the infections."
Hemavathi is appealing to kind hearts out there to help the family procure a prosthetic leg for their daughter.
"I hope that the people out there can help my daughter… she is only 11.
"Sometimes it's hard to fathom how she was born normal, and that she has to grow up with this condition. We are trying our level best to keep it positive for her, cheering her on every day.
"I know she has a bright life ahead of her… I just hope she can be given a second chance at life," she said.
Donors can send cheques made payable to the Media Prima-NSTP Humanitarian Fund at Group Corporate Communications Department, Media Prima Bhd, Level 4, Anjung Riong, Balai Berita, 31 Jalan Riong, 59100 Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur (with the patient's name written on the reverse side of the cheque).
The public may also send their donations to Media Prima-NSTP Humanitarian Fund's Maybank account 5141-0532-3170 and indicate the patient's name on the recipient's reference or other payment details field.
It is made to understand that it will cost Thanusha RM12,000 to purchase a prosthetic leg.