Most people in their right minds would agree that cancer is the last thing they want to have in their lives. Onusa Loetsuwanphaisan thought likewise before she was diagnosed with the demoralising illness five years ago. Now, however, she says something that probably makes her sound slightly cuckoo: she is thankful that she had cancer.
Dubbed by a number of articles featuring her as "strong-minded female cyclist" or the "cancer conqueror on bike", the 47-year-old survivor from one of the world's scariest diseases has become an inspiration for many. This is mainly due to how she chose to take up biking as a way of keeping herself fit after her cancerous cells had been decimated through an operation. But while it's not to be determined how much of her rigorous journey on two wheels has helped keep the cancer in check, such a pursuit, at any rate, has introduced her to the kind of life that calls into question her previous definition of what it means to live.
"It made me question what the point of complicating my life really was," Onusa said. "If I had not been sick, I wouldn't have come across all these wonderful things. I have learned so much because of it. I got to live life more slowly. I realised that all that matters is enjoying everyday."
In the past, Onusa was not the kind of person who appreciated a simple way of life. Having no children, she took it out on her career, becoming a devoted office manager who had no problem with tarrying at her workplace until morning to perfect her responsibilities. With the fast pace and workaholism came years of succumbing to the habit of taking her health for granted. Then, one day, it was like an alarm bell rang out, one that was enough to give chills down her spine.
In the year Onusa turned 42, her regular annual health check-up brought her stage-one cervical cancer. The doctor consequently set her up for conventional treatment but harped on about how she needed to co-operate to be up for the upcoming battle. First things first, she was expected to revolutionise her lifestyle, which simply started from eating right and staying healthy physically and mentally, the kind of linchpin of good health not only individuals sick with cancer should embrace but everyone in general.
"My doctor told me that it was all up to me to get down to it," Onusa said. "He said if I was not going to fight, he wouldn't be able to help."
Looking for a sport to take up after having quit her job, Onusa had her friend show her the ropes in biking. She began her first trip in Surat Thani, where she had followed her husband who relocated there for work. In no time, the maiden trip of merely a distance of 20 kilometres grew into a regular trip of over 100km. And the first thing that became apparent was how physically stronger she felt.
"In the past, walking half a kilometre would make me breathless," Onusa said. "Now I can walk up to 20km and still feel nothing. I used to bike for 20km and was drained of all energy. Now I just breeze through a 60km trip and I can finish it before ten when I start early in the morning. For 100km trips, I normally finished them in the late evening. Now it's before two."
Biking has also given Onusa the chance to make new friends through online communities dedicated to biking and she has gone on various trips with them ever since. Some of the most memorable times was when she went to bike in the central part of Vietnam and when she biked more than 2,000km from Surat Thani to Chiang Mai. Routes she opts for are usually not main roads, which not only allows her to drink in the scenery and take photos, which she loves sharing online, but also keeps her safe.
"One of the charms of biking is that it takes you further than you think you can go and the power comes right from you," Onusa said. "The power that enables walking comes from you too but walking doesn't take you as far and fast. This makes you proud. I always catch myself looking back and thinking to myself 'wow, I went from Surat Thani to Chiang Mai on bike'. It's just fascinating." Freewheeling across the country, Onusa said she sometimes forgets that she used to be sick. She has not yet thought of resuming her career. The latest results from her last hospital visit also show no sign of the cancer coming back. Biking may have saved her from it but it has most importantly saved her from failing to appreciate the beauty of life and live life at its appropriate pace. This is why she is thankful she had cancer.
And because of this, she said that she will be biking forever.
"I want to give moral support to people who are struggling from the same thing," Onusa said. "Letting your doctor help you is one thing but you have to help yourself too. Sometimes doctors even say that a particular patient is not going to make it. But he or she does against all the odds. Why do they survive? Because they want to fight."
