Three-time cancer survivor inspires at 2024 Great Eastern Women’s Run

SINGAPORE – The battle against cancer is a long and arduous journey. But for Aparna Suri, she has gone through the life-changing struggle not just once, but thrice.

So one can appreciate the housewife’s beaming smile of joy and relief at the finish line after completing the 5km race in the intense morning heat at the Great Eastern Women’s Run (GEWR) on Oct 27.

It marked a personal triumph for the 50-year-old and a reminder of her strength and determination in dealing with life’s hardest hits over almost three decades.

Drenched in sweat but smiling broadly, Aparna said after the race at the Singapore Sports Hub: “It is very inspiring to see so many women running, and it was quite a personal achievement for me, because it’s my first run. I hope I can do this in the future, and inspire more women to do this.

“Representing the Singapore Cancer Society (SCS), I feel like it’s a great achievement for the survivors, the people who are fighting the battle, and the people who I want to inspire.”

Over 12,000 runners turned up for this edition of the GEWR, which raised a record $388,000 to benefit SCS and Daughters Of Tomorrow, a charity that works with underprivileged women.

Indian national Aparna, a Singapore permanent resident, found out she had stage 1 triple-negative breast cancer in 2023. She completed chemotherapy in April and is awaiting a scan in November.

That was her third encounter with the illness within a span of 28 years, after she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer of the lymph nodes, in 1996 and thyroid cancer in 2015.

Aparna recalled her first brush with cancer. She was living in Mumbai until she was 21 before moving to Chennai after her marriage and that was when she found a lump on her neck and a scan confirmed the dreaded news.

Aparna, who had not told her parents about the lump and going for a scan, said: “I took a pause, and then burst out crying when my doctor confirmed the cancer and said ‘I think you should tell your parents’.

“I felt like, oh my god, this is the end.”

But she would make a full recovery, although she described her chemotherapy sessions as “torture” and radiation therapy draining, besides having to endure losing her hair.

Four years later, she would get the all-clear from her doctors in India and in 2003, she moved to Singapore with her family.

Then in 2015, during a visit to the doctor in Singapore for a viral ear infection, she was advised to go for a thyroid check-up, which discovered the cancer.

She recovered after a thyroidectomy, a surgical removal of the thyroid gland, but it was during one of the follow-up checks in September 2023 that her doctor found a lump in her breast. It was later confirmed to be stage 1 triple-negative breast cancer and she decided to undergo a mastectomy and reconstruction surgery in Singapore.

Aparna credited the support from her husband Navin Suri, 56, co-founder and chief executive of fintech start-up Percipient, 19-year-old son, 23-year-old daughter and friends for helping her take everything in her stride.

She added: “My family’s been super supportive, especially my husband, who has really been a strong pillar of support. One advice I would have for people is that during the journey, you need to expand your circle (of friends).

“I’ve been lucky to have amazing friends who are like family, and they’ve been supporting and been checking in on me every day.”

Aparna hopes to encourage more people to go for regular screenings.

She said: “I’m very proud of having been through this and being able to talk about it and being alive. I look at the brighter side of things. I want to encourage people to go get their tests done.

“The first two cancers, I wasn’t very vocal about it but after this (latest) surgery, I’ve been telling even strangers about it because I feel that even if it helps one person who gets the mammogram done, it might save them because mine got caught in Stage 1.”

Besides the half-marathon, 10km and 5km runs, the GEWR also featured the 2km Mummy and Me and 100m Princess Dash categories, which saw 2,800 participants, the highest since their introduction in 2017, said organisers.

The elite 21.1km category was won by national runner Vanessa Lee in 1hr 22min 24sec. She retained her title to take home the $3,000 prize money. Goh Shing Ling (1:22:50) was second, while 2022 winner Rachel See (1:23:46) was third.

Lee, third in 2022, said: “When I first joined in the half-marathon (in 2022), it was my first year doing half-marathons so the distance then was really a bit daunting for me, as I usually do 10km races... but it was a great experience. And then the following year, I came in first so this year the aim was really to defend my title.”