I knew beating cancer would be tough. What I didn’t expect was the crippling loss of identity as I returned to work

A CRIPPLING SENSE OF IDENTITY LOSS 

By October 2024, exactly one year after my diagnosis, I was in remission. However, physically and psychologically, recovery took much longer.

The intensive chemotherapy that I had before the transplant, followed by two years of maintenance chemo, left me with neuropathy and made rebuilding my strength and stamina a slow, grinding process.

Neuropathy is a condition caused by nerve damage that leads to pain, weakness, numbness or tingling in one or more parts of your body. In my case, I felt it acutely in my limbs.

Even as my body slowly healed, my confidence did not immediately return.

The next month, I was given the green light to return to work. However, I found that the idea of stepping back into professional life filled me with uncertainty – the kind that has more to do with my identity than with my capabilities.

Before cancer, I had been a physics teacher and head of department at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), or ACS(I). But after months away from work, I found myself wondering whether the person who once carried those responsibilities still existed.