A Taiwanese doctor was unexpectedly diagnosed with breast cancer, which she believes was linked to her long-standing unhealthy lifestyle.
Now facing the illness as both a doctor and a patient, she reflected on her years of chronic sleep deprivation, which she suspects played a major role in triggering the disease.
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She only had 4 hours of sleep every day
According to China Press, in 2019, at just 35 years old, she was diagnosed with stage 2 malignant triple negative breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form known for its high recurrence and metastasis rates, as well as its difficulty to treat.
The woman, an attending physician in the Department of Surgery at China Medical University Hospital, shared that five years before her diagnosis, she had been getting only 3 to 4 hours of sleep each day.
She often stayed up late to finish reports or prepare for the next day’s tasks, typically going to bed around 3 or 4 AM and waking up by 7 or 8 AM.
She had an 88% chance of survival
The woman shared that while the five-year survival rate for her condition was about 88%, what stood out most to her was the 12% chance that she might not be alive in five years.
She explained that she didn’t have any of the usual risk factors for breast cancer, such as hormone exposure. At most, being over 30 and not having had her first child slightly increased her risk by about 1% compared to the average person.
Thankfully, after undergoing surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and other treatments, she successfully overcame the disease.
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