KUALA NERANG: Wan Fahimah Wan Mohamad Othman, who is fighting cancer is grateful for the support she received after her plight was shared through the media.
The 27-year-old final-year Bachelor of Quranic Studies and Qiraati student at Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah (UNiSHAMs) postponed her studies due to a lack of funds to treat stage three breast cancer since January. Her story has attracted much attention and offers of help.
Wan Fahimah expressed relief to receive nearly RM10,000 in donations from readers who sympathised with her predicament.
"Alhamdulillah, I am grateful that many people have contacted me and come to my house to provide donations after my story was published yesterday," she said when met at her home in Kampung Kepala Batas in Pedu, today.
She said representatives from the Menteri Besar's Office, State Zakat Board, and the village chief visited her house yesterday to offer their contributions.
"I am also thankful to the Cancer Survivors Malaysia (CSM) chairman Zuraini Kamal, who helped me by providing a cash donation of RM1,200 yesterday.
"I will use all this money to cover my treatment costs at the Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital in Sungai Petani and resume my studies at UNiSHAMs in September after a six-month delay."
Wan Fahimah said she was not ashamed to clean public toilets at Pantai Merdeka in Sungai Petani to fund her cancer treatment.
She said the money from that job was used to cover the RM258 surgery cost to remove cancer cells from her right breast on July 16 and six rounds of chemotherapy.
"With the earnings from that job, I also paid rent in Kuala Ketil and covered the costs of commuting by motorcycle to work and the hospital."
She did it herself because she did not want to burden her mother Rodziah Safie, 49, and father Wan Mohamad Othman Ismail, 56, who works as a security guard who have six other school-going children.
She added she wished to buy a car to ease travel for her treatments but had to rely on her motorcycle to continue with 15 radiotherapy sessions at the Penang Hospital this month.
"I will go to the Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital this Sunday to collect the CT scan medical report before seeing a specialist at the Penang Hospital to schedule the radiotherapy sessions," she said.
Yesterday, it was reported that Wan Fahimah had to postpone her studies to work as a cleaner to cover her breast cancer treatment costs.
Wan Fahimah worked as a cleaner in the public toilets at Pantai Merdeka to earn money for treating her stage three breast cancer.