“When you become a survivor, you become a warrior” – 59-year-old breast cancer survivor

The night began like any other when Shelly Khan was preparing for bed, slipping out of her clothes and into the familiar comfort of her nightdress, when her hands brushed against something unusual. Beneath her fingers was a small, hard lump, no bigger than a seed.

At the time she was just 29 years old and Khan did not know what the lump was or what it could mean. As thoughts and possibilities raced through her mind, she refused to let the night swallow her in uncertainty. As the sun rose the following morning, she had already decided that she would not sit with the fear and wonder what it meant.
Khan recounted the series of events that followed her discovery with this publication, describing how quickly her life began to change.
The following morning, she visited her district doctor at Georgetown Hospital, where she underwent an examination. Initially, she was told that the lump was not particularly large. However, as the process unfolded, events took an unexpected turn.
The medical team examined the lump again and determined that it was too large for the procedure to proceed as planned. She was advised that removing her breast would be the best course of action, leaving her with a difficult decision to make within a matter of hours.
She recalled having to make the decision the same day, explaining that the lump had become significantly larger following a biopsy, leaving little time to consider her options.
According to her, the medical team instructed her to return the following day for a session of chemotherapy before undergoing surgery.
Recalling the experience, she described the effects of chemotherapy as gruelling, even years later.
“So I went and did my chemo, then I went home, got my stuff and returned to the hospital. The chemo wasn’t an easy feeling. You vomit, you get diarrhoea, you experience all kinds of feelings; and then I had to go for the surgery the next morning. When I recovered, I had lost my breast. It was a very, very dark moment for me at that time. Very, very sad, but I learned to deal with it,” she said, her thoughts returning to that difficult period of her life. “It took me about 12 years before I could recuperate emotionally, and I didn’t want to see anybody. You would never have found me coming to do this back then because I didn’t want anybody to know.”
Looking back on the experience, Khan who is now 59 years old, became emotional as she shared her story, hoping that her journey would give others the courage to face their own struggles.
“I am proud, and I’m happy that I can come and do this interview and give somebody hope. Not all lumps are cancerous, but don’t take a lump for granted, because I never knew it was there until I felt it, and it wasn’t paining,” she advised.

Life after surgery
Even amid her struggles, Khan continued her business where she would make items to sell to support herself, as, she said, her husband offered little support during her illness. She recalled that, following her surgery, he told her he did not want a woman with cancer who had only one breast.
Khan was left to deal with the emotional strain of her illness and the breakdown of her marriage while raising her daughter, who was just three years old at the time.
Her daughter became her greatest source of strength and a reason to keep going, even during moments when life seemed unbearable.
“She is the reason why I am sitting here, because many times, the words that he said to me made me feel that there was no point in living. But I would just look at her and say, ‘No, I have to be here for you, because if I’m gone, he will take another woman, and what will become of her life?’” Khan recalled.
She said her daughter still remembers the difficult period, including the frightening experience surrounding the biopsy, when her breast became swollen and began bleeding.
“When I had the biopsy, the breast was swollen, and it was like biting, so I decided to squeeze it, you know, and all the blood was like up on the roof, and she started screaming. She always remembers that, and she went and called my mother. I told her not to get scared. She said, ‘Mommy, are you going to die?’ I said, ‘No, I’m going to be here,’” Khan recalled.
Now an adult, her daughter often reminds her how grateful she is that her mother survived those difficult years.
Khan said her daughter, who is now in her thirties, tells her: “Mom, I’m so thankful that you made it through all these years, and I’m here with you.”
After undergoing chemotherapy, Khan was supposed to complete three sessions. However, she said that, at the time, patients had to finance their own medication, and she could not afford to complete the prescribed treatment.
As a result, she completed only two sessions.
“Here I am, sitting by the grace of God,” she said.
Despite the challenges she faced, Khan later set her sights on having another child. Twelve years after her diagnosis, she approached her doctors about the possibility of becoming pregnant again, but was cautioned that the effects of chemotherapy could make another pregnancy dangerous.
However, she continued to pray and hold on to hope.
“I said, ‘You know what, doctor? I would like to have another child.’ The doctor told me no, and that once I went through chemotherapy, it could be dangerous to my body. I said okay, and I went all out. I prayed a lot and I got a son 12 years later,” she said.
Today, her son is 18 years old, and Khan describes him as her miracle baby.
“My son is 18 years old. So I have a daughter and I have a son. I call my son the miracle baby,” she said.
While her family provided moments of joy, Khan said her illness also revealed how quickly friendships could fade when she needed support the most. She recalled that friends gradually withdrew from her life, leaving her to navigate much of the experience on her own.
“And you know, going through cancer, you lose your friends because they feel like you would always need that support from them or that you need something from them. You have to be strong for yourself, and I developed that through what I went through back then. I developed so much strength that I feel I can conquer the world,” she said.
Reflecting on her journey, Khan described surviving cancer as an experience that transforms a person, building a strength that is difficult to explain to anyone who has not endured it.
“When you become a survivor, you become a warrior. Once you go through cancer, any survivor could attest to this: you are a warrior. Surviving cancer is not an easy road, and there are ladies with more stories than me to tell because I didn’t go through radiation. I didn’t go through, you know, I was just on some tablets,” she said.
Khan said she continued attending the clinic for between five and seven years following her diagnosis. She recalled that her doctor had assured her after the surgery that she was unlikely to experience further problems, and she remains grateful for the years she has lived since then.