By Prisca Ang
In June last year, May Zee was spending time with God when she heard Him saying that He would use her as a testimony.
“My first reaction was ‘don’t want’, as I knew that it would be a very big commitment,” said May.
Still, she trusted in God’s love for her, recalling how He had worked in her life even before she became a Christian in 2001.
Back then, she had to undergo an ovary operation and the gynaecologist had warned her that it would be difficult for her to have children.
Despite some complications when she was about to give birth to her elder child, May and her husband Goldman now have two daughters. Baoxian and Minxian are both now married.
“Before I knew God, He already accepted me. Even before I knew Him, I was already in His hand,” said May, 61.
Two weeks after hearing that God would use her as a testimony, May was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon and liver cancer when she went to consult a doctor because of abdominal pain.
When she heard the diagnosis, she was at peace as God had already prepared her heart.
May said: “My first thought was, ‘Okay lor’. I didn’t have any worry, sadness or feelings of panic. My mind was very still.”
Keeping faith (and a good sense of humour)
Throughout the interview with Seasons of Life, May recalled the many ways in which God had shown her that He was with her.
For one, she was supposed to stay in a high dependency ward after her seven-hour operation, which would see 9cm of her liver and 12cm of her colon cut away.
“I asked God to let it pass and not to put me in the high dependency ward. I told God, ‘With all the tubes here and pipes there, I will look very ugly, and if my family sees me this way, they will be very worried and sad,” said May.
She woke up in her own hospital room after the operation. May said: “Praise the Lord. It’s a miracle, right?”
God also knew about May’s other insecurities. May’s neighbour, who also had cancer, had warned her that it would not be easy to accept the hair loss.
May therefore braced herself and went for a haircut, on her daughter’s advice, to freshen up and feel more confident before starting her treatment.
She also held onto a hat that her friend Li Huan had passed to her, even as the doctor said that May might not lose her hair due to the types of medicines she would be taking.
In the end, she maintained a full head of hair. “God really heard me,” said May.
In addition, God provided her with much-needed rest. When she felt most exhausted from chemotherapy, her treatment was paused for two months as she had an insufficient white blood cell count.
May was also filled with God’s joy and kept her sense of humour, even as she went through the chemotherapy, which lasted from June 2025 to March 2026.
She recalls an incident in a Sheng Siong supermarket soon after a chemo treatment, where the doctor had instructed her not to drink or touch anything cold for several days.
May was shopping for groceries with her husband Goldman when she was about to pick fresh prawns that were lying on a bed of ice.
”I’d totally forgotten,” said May. “My husband thought I would feel very sad but I started to laugh and laugh, and I told him to choose the prawns while I went to get the tofu.
“Sometimes, I did feel sad that I couldn’t do this or that, but I knew that it was only for the time being. God already put all this in my heart, so even when the chemo was very difficult, very uncomfortable and very hard, I did not cry.”
A journey of transformation
May’s extended family also saw how she continued to be joyful and at peace throughout her treatment.
Before her diagnosis, she and her nephew had often heard rumbling sounds coming from her stomach when they played mahjong together.
May’s nephew immediately called her when he heard the news.
“I told him that the rumbling sound we heard was probably cancer calling,” May said with a laugh, adding that the mahjong games are a chance for her to connect and share God’s love with her nephew and other family members who are not believers.
God also worked deeply in May’s own heart throughout her battle with cancer.
May recalled how one of her early blood tests showed that her tumour marker levels had increased. Further scans found abnormalities in her thyroid.
She had steeled herself for news that the cancer had spread, but a biopsy ruled that out.
May said: “It was very odd. I asked God what happened, and why the tumour marker had gone up. The word that came to me was ‘forgiveness’.”
Without telling her family, May had received a double confirmation on the same day from her husband and daughter, who both sensed that God was asking her to forgive someone.
This eventually led to reconciliation between her and her domestic helper. May and her helper had grown close over the years, but May had felt that her helper was taking her for granted, and May had been increasingly unhappy with her.
“I asked God to forgive me, and I told him that I also wanted to forgive my helper. She was about to return to Myanmar and I prayed for her before she went home.
”In the next blood test, my white blood cell count rose and my tumour marker dropped, back to normal levels.”
God also transformed her relationships with others in church. When she found out about the cancer, she asked Goldman to tell the church that she was ill, so that others could pray for her.
“I never cried because of my illness, but I cried when my husband showed me prayers from people in church. I was very touched by how God sent people to love me and care for me and pray for me,” said May.
This also changed her perception of how others viewed her.
”Sometimes, I felt that people disliked me because I looked cold,” said May.
During the interview, she paused multiple times to talk to people who came up to her to say they were blessed by the testimony she shared during SJSM’s recent church camp.
When this writer told her that she actually seemed to be quite popular, she said cheekily:
“Maybe a bit.”
Asked what advice she would give to someone who was going through a health crisis like cancer, she said: “Don’t give up. Focus on God and draw strength from God, while still seeking medical help.”
Even as May waits for her next doctor’s appointment, her hope is in God.
“God is always good — He shows love and mercy,” she said.