Saving Emily Lola Tan
The life of this active and outgoing woman is put on hold due to leukaemia, and she hopes to find a suitable bone marrow donor.
MALAYSIAN dance fitness instructor/ influencer Emily Lola Tan, 33, lives by two buzzwords – health and fitness. So, it was ironic when this former aerial and pole instructor and fitness ambassador received the devastating news that she has Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.
“It was in early April when I was diagnosed in Alicante, Spain. The news came as a surprise as I don’t have a family history of blood-related diseases,” said Tan, via e-mail interview from Hong Kong, where she is currently seeking treatment.
Tan has been in the health and fitness industry for about 14 years now. Her last job in Hong Kong was as business development manager and educator for total body resistance and endurance exercises.
In her Facebook account, she says her previous jobs included being a performer with Viva Circus, video host, aerial and pole instructor (in Hong Kong), and operations manager at a fitness centre in Malaysia.
Born in Kuala Lumpur, she was 13 when she moved to the United States where she attended middle school. In 2004, she moved back from the US and, in 2013, she moved from Malaysia to Hong Kong. Early this year, she relocated from Hong Kong to Spain for work.
Her good friend and colleague Richard G took her to the hospital and stayed with her during hospitalisation. He was the first to know about her condition. Then, Tan’s company CEO, and another good friend and colleague Laura B were also told the news. Later, Tan broke the news to her family via a WhatsApp chat group, and to close friends.
Some people, Tan shared, were not surprised, surmising that she had worked too hard, to breaking point.
But she did not expect her health to be in such a bad shape.
“I went to the hospital thinking I just needed antibiotics for a really horrible cold. I was, however, slightly alarmed when non-irritating red spots appeared all over my body,” she related. Her other symptoms were headaches, shivers, change in taste buds, loss of appetite, and a constant fever for five days straight.
A blood sample was taken and painkillers given, before she was transferred to another hospital. She was then still pretty much in the dark and a little confused, she said.
At the emergency department, more blood samples were taken, and she was given her first platelet transfusion.
An English-speaking doctor, Tan said, confirmed the diagnosis. Her condition was critical, and she underwent chemotherapy.
Tan looked up the Internet and found that AML is one of the most common types of leukaemia in adults and requires aggressive treatment.
Tan was advised on chemotherapy treatment and a bone marrow transplant.
Tan could have had a bone marrow transport if there had been a match in the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) from her two siblings, Andrew, 30, and Adam, 27. Unfortunately, they were not full matches.
Tan explained that the best matches are siblings but, even then, they only have about a 30% chance of matching. “Parents are highly unlikely matches since I would need an HLA make-up from both my parents,” she added. “The more donors we have, the more chances of a match. (Also), a key factor in HLA matching is ethnicity.”
Over the past few months, she has reached out to 15 doctors and hospitals in Germany, Spain, the United States, Singapore and Australia.
The induction chemotherapy (first treatment, in Spain) left her weak. The side effects included nausea, diarrhoea and fever. Also, the intestinal pain was so bad that she was put on morphine for over a week. In her weakened state, she caught pneumonia.
Once she was cleared to fly, after recovering, she returned to Hong Kong where she is currently seeking treatment at Queen Mary Hospital.
She said the side effects of the first consolidation chemotherapy (which is given once remission is achieved) were not as bad as for the induction chemo. So far, Tan has undergone three rounds of consolidation.
“My recovery rate in terms of blood count has improved, compared to the last two consolidation chemos,” she added.
For the induction chemo, she stayed in hospital for 25 days while for each consolidation round, it was 17-18 days.
She added: “There is either one more round of consolidation chemo or a bone marrow transplant, which has a pre-transplant chemo as part of the procedure. I learned that it will take two other chemo drugs for the purpose of wiping out your bone marrow completely before the transplant. That’s going to be another week-long round of chemotherapy.” In the meantime, she hopes that a bone marrow donor will come through.
“Upon (a donor) registering, a simple cheek swab sample is taken, and no needles are required,” she said.
Tan’s treatments are being done in Hong Kong, where she has a close support network.
She said: “I’m generally fine getting about, as I only go out when I need to. I have very good people around me to keep me company and help me out.”
Other than conventional treatments, she has sought a cancer nutritionist, a naturopath nutritionist, an exercise physiologist and a clinical psychologist for well-being needs, she said.
“More tests were done in order for the nutritionists to accurately tailor prescriptions of supplementation. My bills for these out-of-pocket costs are about HK$50,000 (RM26,435).
Generally, her diet has not changed much. She still consumes a lot of vegetables, as she was on a plant-based diet prior to the diagnosis. Fish has been re-introduced, along with meat occasionally.
When she first got back to Hong Kong, she ate whatever she could taste, including refined carbohydrates and sugar, since her taste buds had been affected by the chemotherapy.
Exercising under supervision, Tan added, plays a crucial role in her recovery, both psychological and physical.
Due to the illness, Tan has been on “very long leave” from her job in Spain.
“I am not classified as fit-towork, considering how many hospitalisations are needed until these treatments and recovery from treatments are satisfied. Thus, I’ve been without income since April this year,” she said.