Nearly two weeks before Christmas in 2025, 31-year-old Teresa Hon underwent brain surgery for glioblastoma – the most aggressive and fastest-growing type of brain cancer, and a rare one.With a tumour size of more than 6cm, it was a highly complex surgery. Because the tumour was close to parts of the brain controlling vital functions, her surgeon could not remove the whole tumour without risking speech loss, hearing loss or paralysis.Her husband Bjorn Chua remembers watching his wife being wheeled into the operating theatre where 10 to 20 medical professionals had assembled.The surgery was supposed to take four to six hours, so when the neurosurgeon emerged in just two and a half, Chua panicked: “I thought my wife died.”But the surgery was a success. And while Hon was recovering in the intensive care unit, Chua had someone send his car to a workshop to have its windows tinted.It seemed like the oddest thing to do at such a crucial moment, but Chua knew that after the operation, his wife would not want anyone to see her in her present state.A former Singapore Airlines air stewardess, her world had collapsed in little over a month when symptoms of her cancer first appeared.
Teresa Hon with her oncologist Dr Valerie Yang Shiwen – glioblastoma is the most aggressive type of brain cancer and is incurable. (Photo: Dr Valerie Yang)
