S'pore woman diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer 10 days after 2023 wedding, now pregnant with 1st child

Gezane Yap, 30, made headlines in 2024 when she shared how she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma just 10 days after her wedding.

Yap was declared cancer-free in March 2024.

Today, she has more wonderful news to share.

The digital designer revealed on Instagram that she is expecting her first child, naturally conceived after completing chemotherapy.

Cancer diagnosis 10 days after wedding

Yap had found a lump on her neck about a week before her wedding in September 2023, but held off on the biopsy as it would leave a scar before the big day.

Ten days after her wedding, she was confirmed to have Stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes that most commonly affects people in their 20s and 30s and those over age 65.

She went on to complete 12 rounds of chemotherapy in Singapore, battling chronic fatigue, hair loss, and significant weight loss. Her husband shaved his head in solidarity, and her mother spent hours in the kitchen daily navigating her appetite.

By end-March 2024, a final scan showed her body was 100 per cent clear of cancer. Mothership last spoke to Yap then, when she described the moment as feeling like "a huge rock on my shoulders suddenly disappeared."

Adjusting

Speaking to Mothership, Yap noted now that adjusting after such a traumatic event was something else altogether. She has not been posting too much over the last few years.

She described stage 4 cancer as such:

"To me, stage 4 cancer felt like being thrown into a battlefield with no armour and having to fight for your life bare handed against something with a terrifying track record of winning."

Which was why when she beat this destructive foe, she found having to function normally again, quite a tough ask.

"During those two years, I was quietly working on my own business while also helping my husband build and run his business. At the same time, I was trying very hard to heal mentally."

She noted that scars, many of which were mental and emotional, took time to overcome.

"Even after gaining back my weight and functioning normally again, internally I knew I was no longer the same person I used to be.

I felt like life no longer belonged to me for quite some time, and I spent a long period feeling like I was just floating through life."

Which of course doesn't mean she wasn't grateful to be alive, Yap says she's "deeply thankful every single day", but stresses that healing and recovery are two different stages.

"In reality, emotional healing takes much longer, and I think it’s important for people to know that it is normal to take time to heal."

One of those mental hurdles was Yap's fear that her body was "no longer strong enough" to have a child. Other fears involved what would happen to her child if "something serious" happened to her again during pregnancy or after giving birth.

She said that after chemotherapy, she had "somewhat pushed the idea of starting a family" out of her mind. She told herself that if her body was healthy and strong enough, it would happen naturally when the time was right.

Those fears stayed with her for a long time.

"Oh my god, I actually did it"

The couple found out about the pregnancy while in Japan.

Yap had been sitting on the toilet, staring at the test, when two lines appeared almost immediately. She had expected it to take a few minutes, like in the movies.

She said:

"My first thought was honestly, 'Oh my god, I actually did it.' After everything my body had gone through, I never wanted to take fertility for granted. It felt like our rainbow after the storm."

Her husband's reaction was equally unguarded. During treatment, he had quietly stopped bringing up the idea of having children, joking that they would just grow old together in an old folks' home. When the test came back positive, he couldn't stop giggling for months.

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"Survival was the only thing that mattered"

For Yap, this pregnancy carries a weight most first-time parents do not have to carry.

When she was first diagnosed, her oncologist raised the possibility of egg freezing before chemotherapy, as chemo can permanently affect fertility. But with a Stage 4 diagnosis and an uncertain prognosis, the family decided not to risk delaying treatment.

She said:

"At that time, survival was the only thing that mattered. So this pregnancy means much more to us than simply starting a family. To me personally, it feels like reassurance that my body is healing and recovering well after everything it endured."

To those still in the fight

After chemotherapy, she focused on rebuilding her health gradually, sleeping earlier, reducing stress, eating better, and giving her body time without pressuring herself about fertility.

Since her announcement, Yap said many followers have continued to ask how she recovered from Stage 4 cancer. She also shared a message for those still going through chemotherapy:

"I know how lonely it feels. I know there are days where it feels like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. All of those feelings are valid. I have walked that path before."

She added that mental strength had mattered a lot during her own treatment, not forced positivity, but a daily commitment to getting through.

"Being kinder and gentler to your own mind during this period can make the journey feel slightly less unbearable. A little strength every day goes a very long way."

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