Chef Wan maintains his fighting spirit after starting cancer treatment

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 — Celebrity chef Datuk Chef Wan has posted on Instagram photos of himself sitting up on his hospital bed after undergoing immunotherapy and chemotherapy.

Bundled up in a shawl, he joked that he looked like a refugee in a camp.

Updating his one million followers on Instagram, he thanked God that he didn’t develop a chill, fever, headache, rash or allergy post-treatment.

“My mind tells me that the whole world is following my struggle and I need to inspire them,” he wrote in the post.

The 65-year-old also shared photographs of his eaten meal.

“Unfortunately, my doctor said my lump from last week’s surgery seems to be growing again, fast,” he wrote. “In fact, it’s characteristic of Burkitt lymphoma cells to mutate very fast.”

But on the upside, his doctor told him the cells will diminish slowly before being completely gone at the end of his cycle.

“I remember when my late mum had it,” wrote Chef Wan. “It went from the neck to the brain within weeks.”

His mother, Noraini Abdullah, was treated with a low-pill chemo which was not effective. She had fever within 48 hours and passed away 11 days after slipping into a coma in January at the age of 93.

To prevent the same thing from happening to him, doctors will inject intrathecal chemotherapy into his spine.

“I need to lie down for this process to protect my brain. You see, sometimes with cancer, there are so many risks you must take.”