I’VE NEVER FELT MORE ALIVE
Pole-dancing instructor to let Jasmine Han refused her. breast cancer defeat armed She stuck to her routine, to with a positive attitude, live the life she wants.
Pole-dancing instructor Jasmine Han will not be defeated by breast cancer: Armed with a positive attitude, she lives the life she wants.
Istudio t’s 6.30pm, and the dance cropped with women in colourful out of an tops resembles a scene aerobics workout video. While music plays in the twirls background, Jasmine Han pole as she effortlessly around the who are encourages her students, manoeuvres. attempting the difficult moves, She teases them about their bursts and the roomful of women into laughter. of Jasmine’s athletic display is strength, energy and control guess admirable. One would never diagnosed that the 41-year-old was November, with breast cancer last and has undergone chemotherapy and a double mastectomy. news, Despite the devastating and the pole-dancing instructor wasn’t owner of Slap Dance Studio though about to be defeated even she went through an emotional illness was roller-coaster when her looks diagnosed, in what she now in life. back on as an “inconvenience” to Jasmine was determined the way survive it – and live life she wanted. a round “Every time I completed party at of chemo, I threw a small says the the studio with my friends,” to wallow in mother of two. “I refuse self-pity. and “You need to look forward just so you have a positive mindset, feel alive.”
Kick-starting Her Life
surgery last After she went through no time December, Jasmine wasted taking resuming her daily routine, cooking her children to school and for them.
Sticking to old habits was the important to her during recovery process. life too “You can’t change your mind drastically, otherwise your
“It’s can’t adapt to it,” she explains. a day when like cutting out sugar in all your life. you’ve had a sweet tooth
You won’t be happy.” a Jasmine did yoga and pilates and sprang week after her surgery, month after, back into pole dancing a training by herself. at She returned to teaching a fourmonth the studio in May after the road to hiatus. While on herself busy recovery, Jasmine kept
and even found time for some new hobbies.
“I took all the preventive medicines such as painkillers and immune system boosters even though I felt okay,” she says. “But I wasn’t able to sleep because of the after-effects of chemotherapy. Instead of lying around and letting wild thoughts get to me, I baked bread for my friends. I made 80kg of bread in total!”
The late nights also saw her penning her thoughts in a journal.
“Writing is something I’ve been doing for a long time,” says Jasmine, who’s one of the authors of I’m Not Perfect, I’m a Mom, a book published in 2015.
“It helps me articulate my feelings. I get my kids to write in my diary, too. When I find their little notes two days later, it’s like getting a warm hug, and that keeps me going.”
Jasmine sees the changes in her life as positive ones, including her current preference for white wine and tea as opposed to red wine and coffee.
“I can’t explain it. I even have more strength in my left arm now than before,” she adds.
Jasmine wasn’t alone during her recovery. She knew that she needed people around her to make it through the ordeal.
“I reached out to two to three close friends who are all breast cancer survivors, on what to do next,” she recalls.
She adds, solemnly: “The moment I discovered a lump in my breast, I expected it to be cancer. My mother and grandmother had it. (But) nothing can really prepare you for something like this, and I cried hard when I got home that very day after my diagnosis.”
Jasmine kept the illness from her family, except her husband, until three days before her operation.
Her students at the dance studio stood by her, and they became a pillar of support for her.
“My friends opened their homes to me whenever I needed a good cry. They recommended psychotherapists and even offered to pick up my kids from school because I couldn’t drive after surgery. The best part is, they were eager attendees of my chemo parties.”
Embracing Her New Look And Body
Jasmine is a picture of confidence as she embraces her new look: a funky cropped hairdo. “I think I look so much better with short hair,” says Jasmine, who used to have long hair.
“When my hair started falling out, I knew I had to shave it off. My friends took turns to shave my hair at the dance studio.”
She adds: “When I also started losing my eyebrow hair, I treated myself to a luxurious embroidery session in Little India. I wore a nice pair of sunglasses and came out looking quite high-fashion.”
And she doesn’t feel the least insecure about her body, revealing her 5cm battle scar.
“I was an A-cup size, and to me, my breasts were never an accessory. However, I’m all for breast reconstruction, and there’s nothing wrong or vain about wanting them back. If you were once a C-cup, removing one breast results in a loss of symmetry, and that’s a big issue.”
Jasmine adds: “Women can do what they want with their bodies and no one should judge them.”