KUCHING: A stage four nasal cancer survivor is determined to complete his solo ride to Sabah in order to finish the Program Kayuhan Jelajah Sahabat Kanser, which began on December 27 2020.
Zaki Yahya, 51, who is from Selangor began the first series of the programme by touring all around nine districts in Selangor for 10 days and visited over 31 cancer patients.
He then continued his ride for another 12 days and visited 30 cancer patients in four states at northern Malaysia Peninsular before heading to the south and east Malaya such as Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Pahang, Johor, Terengganu and Kelantan, and visited over 250 cancer patients from that journey.
“I embarked on this to give motivations and support to the patients to never give up and continue to live.
“Cancer is not the end, instead it is a new beginning to live a better life,” he said this when met by reporters ahead of the flag off for the programme at Kompleks Persekutuan, Kuching on Thursday (February 9).
According to him, the purpose of the programme is also to collect funds for Tabung Persatuan Ziarah Sahabat Kanser, which was chaired by Yahya himself.
“I know and I understand what it feels like to suffer from cancer, which includes paralysis, losing tons of weight and others.
“I am very thankful because I was given a second chance to live, and my message to my friends who suffer from the diseases is to never give up and fight as hard as you can,” he added.
Yahya was diagnosed with the disease at Miri General Hospital in 2017 and headed back to the Peninsular a month later to continue his treatment for two years at National Cancer Centre and Putrajaya Hospital.
Yahya’s Borneo solo ride was the third series of Program Kayuhan Jelajah Sahabat Kanser which began on February 10 in Kuching and will end in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
It will be his final solo ride in Malaysia, involving 1,123 kilometres and took about 28 days to complete.
