In sickness and in health, I take thee
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Ms Artika Raemi and Mr Aziz Abdullah at their wedding photo shoot at the chemotherapy bay of the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore. They decided to take photos there as the place serves as a reminder of how they overcame the toughest phase of their relationship - Ms Artika's breast cancer journey.
ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN
The hospital is no conventional location for wedding shoots, but it is a place that bears great significance for Ms Artika Raemi, 26, and Mr Aziz Abdullah, 28.
The chemotherapy bay at the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore, was where Mr Aziz supported his fiancee through her breast cancer journey.
Ms Artika, who is a nurse, was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2018.
She underwent a mastectomy in September that year and started chemotherapy that December.
Her treatment ended in April last year, and she has since recovered.
"It was not until I got on the operating table (for my mastectomy) that I realised I was going to lose a part of me that makes me a woman. It was incredibly difficult, and I could not look at myself in the mirror for a long while."
It is rare for young women like Ms Artika to be diagnosed with breast cancer, and women under 30 account for less than 5 per cent of all breast cancer cases.
Throughout Ms Artika's months of chemotherapy, Mr Aziz, who is a teacher, kept her company while looking through his students' work.
"The place now serves as a reminder of how we overcame our toughest phase of our relationship together. Though it's a place I don't wish to visit as a patient again, it's somewhere I never want to forget," Ms Artika said.
The couple, who took their pictures yesterday, will get married on June 12 next year.
