Despite the notoriously demanding rigour of medical school, Dr Chng said his personal experience was a constant reminder not to view patients as a sum of their symptoms. 

“A lot of times when we are busy, we start to think of patients by their locators, like which bed they are in, or it’s the patient with this condition. There are still times that I might fall into this (pattern).”

Dr Chng has strong memories of family and family friends being very involved and rallying around him during his own battle with cancer, even donating platelets to help in his treatment. 

These first-hand experiences, he said, continue to shape the way he now approaches medicine as a practitioner. 

“I understand the fear of the unknown, the weight of uncertainty, and the relief that even small acts of kindness can bring.”

He strives to understand why patients might feel unhappy about the treatment process and empathise with the fatigue they and their families may grapple with throughout the complex journey of recovery.

“It’s not something you can just shake off and say that they don’t have that mental strength.”

In that case, I wondered, has his past critical illness turned out to be something of an asset in his adult career? 

Here, Dr Chng paused. 

“It’s something I feel very grateful for. It’s not an experience I want to go through again, but it’s something that I feel has made me a lot more empathetic (towards) situations that cancer patients are going through. 

“It’s not something to be taken lightly.”

BECOMING A DOCTOR 

At one point in our interview, Mdm Teo emerged from a bedroom with a surprise – Dr Chng’s six-month-old daughter, Clarisse. 

The baby was down with a mild flu and home for the day instead of at infant care, being cared for by her grandmother and mother, Ms Tiew Li Ying Vanessa, who was working from home as a project manager in the healthcare industry. Dr Chng picked her up when she began to fuss, cuddling her close.