Housewife and volunteer Madam Anna Tan Soi Hong, 58, did not need to have her breast removed as her cancer was detected at a very early stage.

Happy that her breast is intact even though it is slightly smaller than the other one after surgery, she said: 'I feel wonderful and tell people about my cancer to encourage them to go for check-ups. Early detection means you don't have to lose your whole breast.'

It was in February that she felt a pain in her left breast. There was no lump at all.

She thought it was muscular pain from having moved boxes around at home. She recalled: 'Every time I moved my arm, I felt a tingling sensation but I could not locate the exact source of the pain.'

The volunteer at the KK Women's and Children's Hospital thought she might as well go for a check-up.

She was two months too early for her scheduled mammogram, she was told. But she was worried. She said: 'I felt uncomfortable and asked for any test to put my mind at rest.'

She went back the following day for an ultrasound (an imaging test which uses high-frequency sound waves to scan the breasts).

A lump measuring 0.8cm was found. A biopsy followed and Madam Tan had to wait for the results: 'Those days were hell for me.'

The test confirmed she had cancer.

She said: 'I was ready for the breast to be removed as it's served its purpose already, but my surgeon said that wasn't necessary.'

Her husband of 30 years Ng See Ming, an engineer, and her two grown-up children supported her in whatever she decided to do.

Her biggest fear was radiation as she had seen a friend's terrible experience undergoing it.

'Six weeks of radiation and I took it so well. That's when I realised how fortunate I am.'

Madam Tan used to eat a lot of meat, oily foods and salt. Now, she cuts back on all the bad stuff.

She said of her change in lifestyle: 'Breast cancer has been a wake-up call to me.'

'I don't feel like part of me has gone'

Advertising executive Yoshi Lee Yoke Chee, 42, would not have felt complete without her breast.

'I woke up from the operation and still had a breast, so I don't feel like part of me has gone.'

The surgery to remove her right breast and reconstruct it was in April this year. Now, her wound is like a french onion soup swirl, she said, laughing, because she has no nipple.

She does not plan to have a nipple created from her own tissue either, as she feels comfortable without one.

Mrs Lee's breast was reconstructed with silicone and her own tissue. 'Yes, I can feel a bit of the silicone implant, but other than that, I feel it is just like before,' she said.

Now nearing the end of her chemotherapy, and with radiation therapy ahead of her, she describes her cancer experience as joyful.

The three lumps in her right breast were stage three. Also, 11 of 14 of her lymph nodes were affected. She was one stage away from the cancer spreading to other parts of her body.

At 42, she should have been going for yearly mammograms, but she said she never bothered with health checks - until March, that is.

She was working on a freelance project at home. Her husband and 10-year-old daughter were in bed.

She recalled: 'A voice in my head told to me to check my breasts. On first touch, I felt a lump.'

A mammogram and biopsy at the KK Women's and Children's Hospital showed Mrs Lee had cancer. She wasn't scared. She said: 'I don't see cancer as scary. It's a curable disease.'

After asking her surgeon about reconstruction, he introduced her to two patients who had had their breasts reconstructed. Said Mrs Lee: 'I was so shocked to see real wounds. I touched them and asked them about their experience.'

Because Mrs Lee has sizeable breasts, the decision was made to take tissue from her back and use an implant to boost the size. The procedure gave her confidence a real boost.

She said: 'I have my breasts and now I can wear whatever I want to wear.'