CANCER-STRICKEN Dr William Tan is undergoing chemotherapy, but that is not stopping him from doing his part for charity.

After having experienced first-hand the cost of treatment, the 52-year-old wants to honour his word to support a fund-raising event called Ride for Hope 2009.
Organised by students from the National University of Singapore’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, the event on Aug 29 will see 40 of them cycling alongside the wheelchair-bound Dr Tan, in a bid to raise $100,000 for needy patients.
The 80km ride will see them making half-hour pit stops at six hospitals islandwide.
After he was diagnosed with cancer in April, he said he struggled at first to accept that fact. But the hope of doing more with his life spurred him on.
His treatment costs also enlightened him on the limitations of Medisave, making it ‘all the more necessary to continue’ with the Ride for Hope 2009 project.
People may not have enough in their Medisave account to pay for the treatment of chronic illnesses, which is why the buying of health insurance is recommended.

For now, Dr Tan is not planning any new fund-raising projects. One to help an orphanage in Shanghai and another to help HIV-positive children in Kenya have been ‘postponed indefinitely’.