 Hello and welcome to the leaders room again. This is Mohamed Sabri from Iklif. He has run seven marathons in seven continents within 70 days. He has done the prestigious Boston and the London marathon within seven days of each other. He has been to the North Pole and done the Antarctic marathon. Dr. William Tan is a resident physician at the Singapore Cancer Clinic who holds a first class degree from Harvard University, United States of America. And by the way, Dr. Tan is also paralyzed from the waist down since he was a child because of polio. We're so proud to have Dr. Tan with us this afternoon. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome to the leaders room, Dr. Tan. Thank you very much. I would like to ask you a question about your childhood. You have been paralyzed from the waist down as a result of contacting polio. How old were you at the time, Dr. Tan? Just two years old. I was missing on polio vaccination. And with the epidemic coming over to this part of the world, I was one of those very unfortunate children to succumb to it. And I understand that despite your physical disabilities, your parents insisted that you be sent to a quote unquote normal school, a regular school. What did that do to you initially? Honestly, I was too young to understand the significance of it until I grew older. And I realized there was a powerful reason for doing so, that my parents really want me to connect with other children who are able-bodied and be integrated with them. And they also believe that in a mainstream school, I will, no matter how difficult it is to receive all the kind of educational training and eventually the opportunities as well, my parents recognized that there's no easy way out for me, even though it might be difficult for other kids to accept me with your disability. So true, true enough that I find very, very difficult to get along with other kids. And the other kids found me very different. And they had a tendency to bully me. This was correct to building, because it taught me how I can learn how to manage conflicts with my classmates, my schoolmates. And by learning the skills at a very young age, it has put me ready for the rest of the world on my journey. Looking at your resume, I mean, one can't help but be impressed by it. And the question that comes to my mind is, have you always been such a high-achieving person? Um, I attributed it to the setbacks I had when I was really young. My parents strongly believed in the power of education, that education can transform people. And they were nurturing. And I was encouraged. And I gave it the hard work to do and do well and sell in school. And not only that, my parents also encouraged me that I must compensate for what I don't have. So as I grew up, I was in this mindset of making up for my losses. I lost the ability to walk. I'm paralyzed from the waist down. So what I have is the brain and the upper body. And how can I maximize the brain, maximize my upper body? I think we have more than compensated for that. Congratulations. I'm so inspired by your sharing this now. I would like to ask you this. Your father was selling sometimes fried bananas by the roadside and things like that. And he came from China as a young man. What were some of the values that from your father, I believe hard work would be one of them, that you have taken with you to your adult years as well? There are many things I've learned from my dad. For one thing, I realized that it was very humbling for my father because he came from a very rich family in China. And during that time, he was wanting to leave the Communist system to come to this part of the world. And he actually lived behind everything and starting from scratch in Southeast Asia. He worked in Malaysia for a while. And then after that, he went back to Singapore. And he was working as a clerical officer, a white collar job. And then he was asked to leave because he was spending too much time with me since I was disabled. And then he tried all kinds of livelihood. He was selling drinks and it failed. He was selling all kinds of other FMV and it failed. And finally, he tried fried bananas in a push cart. And what I've learned from him is that never give up because dad has shown to us it was difficult. There was a lot of setback. One of them, another, it was very humbling to fail. And I learned from him, it doesn't matter how many times it failed, but it makes a difference how many times you get up. And that makes the difference to be able to get up when one fall. And after so many years of studying and hard work, you finally were given admission into the medical college in Australia. And how did that feel? It was euphoric because the news came on my birthday on the 22nd of January, 1997. The interview took a long time and I give my very best. And I'm very grateful to the selection committee of the University of Newcastle in Australia for recognizing my abilities and to see me as a person beyond the wheelchair. Because for too long, many people who are decision makers will look at me as somebody who is crippled, confined to a wheelchair. And I call it nurturing when the selection committee believes that with nurturing, William will make a great doctor on a wheelchair. And for this, I'm very grateful. And then you served in Australia for quite a number of years. And upon your return to become the resident physician, the National Cancer Clinic in Singapore, you went to a marathon in Paris. And that's when you discovered something else was not quite right with your body. And that's when you discovered you are suffering from stage four leukemia. For a person to be suffering from polio since a tender age like you did, and then to be faced with leukemia twice in a lifetime, Dr. Tan, will you get your strength? Initially, I was very devastated. I wasn't able to face the news with courage. I was angry because I have gone through tough times with a childhood disability. With all these discrimination when I was growing up, all the tough journey. And I thought I have gone through tough times. And the rest of my life journey will be smooth sailing, not knowing that at the age of 51, such a terrible illness dawned on me at stage four leukemia. And I find it very hard to accept. It was a big struggle. It was a dilemma whether I should receive treatment or not because I have nine to 12 months as the prognosis indicated. Should I live the nine to 12 months doing the bucket list? Or I go for treatment. And many cancer patients would say, it's very hard going to chemotherapy. And for me, I need a transplant as well of my bone marrow. So you've gone from being a high-flying paralympian, a highly successful doctor, and then you're a cancer patient as well. Even you, I suspect, would have some good days and some not so good days. I would like to ask you, when you're going through a really bad day, what goes on in your mind? Where do you go to get that energy boost to walk you through the entire bad day? Very much indeed. It was ups and downs. I was literally back to zero. As you say, I was in the pinnacle of my life. That's right. Paralympic races were record holder as a physician. And suddenly, I can't train anymore. I can't go and work as a physician anymore. And I'm down to zero, down deep, deep in the pit. And I say that I'm just mortal. As everybody else, I find that I've lost the meaning to life. I've lost the purpose and lost the dreams. And right in front of me is how can I survive the chemotherapy? But it wasn't easy. There were times I feel like giving up. And I felt that it was better, easier for me. After all, I have to die anyway. Everyone has to die anyway. So what's wrong with me died now. And then I thought, no, I think mom would be too sad. Mom has brought me up all these years as a child of disability. Dying before her? That would be devastating. It would break her heart. And then I remember my parents were great leaders in the family who taught me from young how never, ever, ever given up no matter how hard circumstances can be. Why am I not doing it? Why am I giving up? And I say to myself, for the sake of my mom, dad has passed away, for the sake of my fiance, Stephanie, for the sake of my loved ones, my siblings, and my friends, and for myself, I need to go through the treatment. And it would be meaningful for a doctor to go through cancer. And when I go back to work as a doctor at the cancer center, I can be an inspiration. So I derive strength when I see the meaning of it. When I saw the purpose of my suffering, I derive strength and energy. You are an inspiration to so many people out there. But at your age right now, in your situation right now, who inspires you? Along my journey, I say that I have been inspired by many people. I owe it to them, for who I am, for my mom and dad, a great examples, who are strong, resilient, determined, and they are the ones who are mapealous. And as I grew up, and I saw other people of disability, Mr. Johnny Ang, who is paralyzed from the neck down, a man who is so disabled and so full of leadership energy, who will go out there and write articles using a special device in his mouth to type the words. I watch him type by the big side of the hospital and words, the powerful words, to influence decision-makers and making a difference. I was inspired by such people. And of course, my teacher, Dr. Shirley Lim, how Dr. Lim helped me in school when I had some difficulties with transportation. From home to school, it became a long journey when the school moved to a new premise. This was in Singapore. In Singapore. It was a new school. But it means new trouble for me because the trial rider won't bring me there anymore because it's too far. And Dr. Shirley Lim pledged to drive me. She makes such a big effort the rest of my secondary education for three years, driving me to school and back every day. From a child stricken by polio, you went on to perform very well in your primary school. And you outperformed yourself again in secondary school and became a first-class, honest degree holder from Harvard University. And you went on to become a doctor at the cancer clinic in Singapore. And then you became a Paralympian. May I ask you what's next? Oh, well, I'm very grateful for this second chance of life, a new lease of life. I'm seven years in remission, which I celebrated last month. And given this second chance in life, I treasured a lot. And I'm very grateful, very much, for a gratitude to my oncologist at the National University Hospital in Singapore, to my friend, and there's also oncologist, Dr. Ben Mao, who treated me as well. And I want to do more for humanity. And I think that with great energy, comes great responsibility. And I think, I may not be Spider-Man, but I want to go out there and accomplish a lot more for others, for those people who are in need. So there are a couple of things that line up for me. I was still, I'm back to wheelchair racing last year. And I will embark on more and more sporting endeavors. I've just returned from a race from London to Paris, 500 kilometers in four days, to raise money for cancer research. The next one will be the Boston Marathon, my 10th Boston Marathon in April next year. And I will work towards Tokyo 2020, the Paralympics, and then I'll retire and become a volunteer sports administrator to mature the younger athletes. Sounds like a super fantastic plan. Dr. William Tan, thank you for spending some time with us. This is Mohamed Sabri again, signing off from the leaders' room at Eclipse. Thank you for tuning in.