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by Dr Evelyn Ho
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Prize Winners with sponsors and friends of
Radiology Malaysia |
Everyone who attended the
prize presentation event without doubt had an
overwhelming sense of respect and awe for the Radiology
Malaysia-Meditel MyStory:CeritaKu 2005 contest winners.
These winners had shared their stories, inspired either
by their own personal encounter with cancer or from the
perspective of caregiver, children, husband, colleague,
relative, friend or health writer!
Suspense hung in the air
as although there were 13 prize winners for the
MyStory:CeritaKu contest, organised by
Radiology Malaysia, no
one knew what they had won. Naturally all were hoping
they had won the grand prize of a notebook computer!
Nevertheless, all were winners because they had dared to
share in the hope that others would learn lessons from
their stories.
The Radiology Malaysia–Meditel MyStory:CeritaKu contest
ran from September to December 2005 to highlight and
create awareness of the impact of cancer on everyone –
not just those afflicted by cancer but also on people
around those with cancer. The contest was a resounding
success as entries were received from both within
Malaysia and from overseas. Stories were told in either
Bahasa Malaysia or English. These “unsung heroes” who
contributed their stories ranged from caregivers,
friends, relatives, observers of those afflicted with
cancer as well as those who had been diagnosed with
cancer themselves.
Sharon Toh, winner of a Nokia 6020 mobile phone gave her
view of the contest, “This contest goes beyond the
medical mumbo-jumbo that intimidates the general public
when it comes to cancer education. It gives a human face
to this illness that most people still find too scary to
talk about.” Sharon had written about her mother’s
2-year encounter with colon cancer and even though
cancer had shortened her mother’s life, it had actually
strengthened her spirit. Sharon shared the limelight
with Rene’e Aziz Ahmad as the final two for whom, one
would have been the grand prize winner!
For the final prize
presentation gambit, the Guest of Honour, Professor Jeff
Dunn, Patient Services Advisor of the International
Union Against Cancer, Executive Director of the
Queensland Cancer Fund and also Adjunct Professor of the
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Science, University of
Queensland logged into the Grand Prize Notebook, a
Lenovo IBM Thinkpad. The wallpaper of the notebook after
logging in showed the photograph of the Grand Prize
Winner – it was that of Rene’e Aziz Ahmad on the peak of
Mount Kilimanjaro! Rene’e was in tears of disbelief and
joy when she “saw” that she had won the grand prize.
Earlier, Professor Jeff
Dunn in his keynote address, spoke of how cancer impacts
everyone and how everyone had a role to play in cancer
individually but also as a community. Jeff was in
Malaysia as he was a speaker in the Reach to Recovery
Breast Cancer Support Workshop from the 17-19 March
2006.
Professor Dr Basri JJ Abdullah, President of the College
of Radiology kick start the Radiology Malaysia-Meditel
MyStory:CeritaKu Prize Presentation with a short and
sweet welcome speech.
Dr Evelyn Ho, Editor of
Radiology Malaysia, Breast Cancer/Health Programmes
Coordinator and also Honorary Secretary of the College
of Radiology presented the highlights of Radiology
Malaysia in 2005 as well as the breast cancer/health
programmes conducted in 2005 to date. Of note was the
fact that having led the way in breast cancer awareness
and early detection programmes, Dr Ho applauded some of
the private health institutions which had rallied to the
cause and were now, conducting awareness programmes of
their own. This enabled the College of Radiology to
focus on other issues and reach out to other states.
Dr Ho thanked all the
sponsors and friends, collaborators of Radiology
Malaysia and gave them due recognition through virtual
awards for their efforts and support to the CoR’s
website and community service activities. With a tagline
of “Seeing with Heart”, the CoR were making inroads in
territories not yet reached in educating the public on
various aspects of diagnosis and treatment!
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Rene’e Aziz Ahmad, Grand Prize Winner’s
inspiring account of her brush with cancer
included the following, “As amazing as it
may sound, I feel that I have been given a
gift – the opportunity to contribute to
society by giving hope to other women who
have been told that they too have breast
cancer. To me, death is part of the cycle of
life. Fighting breast cancer has not been
about defeating death. It has been about
living life.”
Read the full story –
click here
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L to R: Prof
Dr Basri JJ Abdullah, President of the
College of Radiology; Dr P. Sathyamoorthy,
Immediate Past President of the College of
Radiology; Rene’e Aziz Ahmad,
MyStory:CeritaKu Grand Prize Winner; Dr
Evelyn Ho, Editor of Radiology Malaysia and
Lim Adam, Director of Meditel, the main
sponsor of the contest and event sponsor. |
The platinum award for
Radiology Malaysia was again given to Meditel for the 2nd
year running whilst Agfa ASEAN and Abex Medical Systems
received their virtual silver award for their support to
the website.
For the
breast health/cancer community programmes, the
platinum awards were given to Johnson & Johnson as well
as Meditel. The MMA Foundation Radiology Fund was also
recognised in its important role as custodian of
donations raised and reimbursing the various accredited
volunteer mammogram providers. Meditel was the main
sponsor of the MyStory:CeritaKu contest prizes and the
Prize Presentation event sponsor as well.
The CoR’s partners in prevention include the National
Cancer Society of Malaysia, the Breast Cancer Welfare
Association, the National Council of Women’s
Organisations, Hospis Malaysia, Segamat Breast Cancer
Support Society and many others.
The following won prizes
for their stories and the prizes were given out without
a specific order to keep everyone in suspense and
increase the excitement of the event.
Apple iPod Colour (30Gb) – Jamilah Samian & Munirah
Aminullah
Nokia 6020 mobile phone –
Sharon Toh Shu Ren & Roy Norman Botley
Siemens Gigaset C250
Digital Cordless Phone – Siti Marlina Zainal & Keh Chooi
Lan
Wong Mei Lee, Cynthia Chok
Fui Man and Mrs Sooria Kumari Singovan won the prize
packages comprising Apacer products, a book by Ranjit
Singh Malhi and the latter two also won complimentary
stay at Lanson Place Ambassador Row Serviced Residences
and Cititel Penang respectively.
The 3 sets of Jaya Jusco
vouchers were won by Susan Marquez, Keh Chooi Yiang and
Gan Poy Kim.
Donors of the consolation
prizes were Teh Siew Lin, Ranjit Singh Malhi, Cynthia
Chua, Mary Chan and Cititel Penang and Lanson Place
Ambassador Row. Renaissance Kuala Lumpur donated 2 sets
of Hi-tea vouchers for two and these were won by the
Early Bird entries: Loh Siew Yim and Marian Abdul Malik.
All guests and prize
winners then adjourned to lunch. The CoR was delighted
that the event was very well attended and hoped everyone
had an enjoyable time. Special thanks to all the prize
winners who came from Kuantan, Ipoh and Seremban and
friends of Radiology Malaysia who came from out of state
to make the event a success.
Click here for the prize
winning stories
Click here for
details of the Radiology Malaysia-Meditel
MyStory:CeritaKu Contest
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