Armin, cigarette and cancer...

Why do I smoke? Having survived terminal cancer and being given second lease of life, I should really stopped smoking. It pisses my sister Rose Emini the most. Emi donated her bone marrow when I underwent the Bone Marrow Transplant for Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia more than a decade ago. My dad will say it is all in the mind reminding me that I can do whatever I want to do.. if I want to!

Moreover the fact that I now run marathons and participated in various dualthon and triathlon series, I have all the reasons to stop smoking. My parent, siblings and friends had retired in their many attempts to ask me to quit smoking.

Why I did not stop smoking? When I was an undergraduate at the University of Buckingham, I took an optional dissertation Health Economics paper to research and study Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) of a terminal cancer patient. QALYs is usually used as a measure to calculate the utility gained (quality of life in years) against cost (of treatment). In my case the quality of life that I would have gained, against the cost of the Bone marrow transplant,

I was keen to understand the quality of life that I will have in QALY measurement. In short, given the age of diagnosis, the age I underwent the bone marrow transplant, the year I had the relapse, the post-bone marrow transplant (after relapse) treatment and assuming similar technology and lifestyle, I will have a good quality of life until the age of 45 years old.

My quality of life as a smoker, given the number of year I have been smoking, the amount of cigarette i smoke and lifestyle, will began to deteriorate after the age of 56 years old. Meaning, given my past medical history, my life will end before the cigarette takes effect on my quality of life.

Yaa.. lame excuse but it is a logic :-) Nonetheless, I can participate in various dualthon and triathlon series and can run the full 42km marathon as well as ultra marathon which many non-smokers cannot do. BUT really unless you have had terminal cancer, you should really stop smoking… :-D ;-)

TIME is of the essence...

yes indeed. If there is any pressure in life, it should be 'time'!



i understand the essence & the importance of time the most, having being told that i ONLY had 3 years to live. well.. that was 19 years ago. yes... i had cancer. to be specific i had Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia but now i am okay. Although it had been 19 years since my diagnosis, half of my teenage life was to come to term with it and after going through 'hell'.. it kinda shape up my thinking... that luxury is not measured by money or any tangible items but instead by how much 'time' i have to do things that i want.



Now, 19 years later, i am still in the same predicament. i just simply do not seemed to have enough time to do everything that i want to do. we only have 24 hours in a day.. or 31 days in a months (or worse 28 days in a month in February). that is a fact and nothing can change that, even if we want to extend an extra hour in a day, we simply cannot.



If we lost a thousand ringgit today, we can always work harder tomorrow or save more in the future to recover the lost thousand ringgit. But if we lost an hour today... it is simply gone forever...!!!!!



With 24 hours aday, i had to have enough sleep and wake up as early as 6am to run daily as part of my get healthy 2008 new year resolution (yaa we all have resolution), write and complete my book that i targeted to launch next year, manage my 40 odd fasfik branches, make sure that my proton sales dealer achieve my target sales and most importantly, spend quality time with my love ones. Time is so scarce with so much to do.



It is base on 'time' that my Fasfik concept was developed... or at least one of it. Before i established my Fasfik workshop. I always relate my experience when i sent my previous BMW to the BMW workshop in Glenmarie after making a 9am appointment a week in advance, to be told that the car will be ready in the afternoon and when i came back in the afternoon, i was told that the car was not ready and to come back again later. Similarly with Mercedes. every appointment that was made a week advance will require a whole day without specific time of completion. That is why, i specified all timing for Fasfik principal products and services which is prominently display on a 42" plasma TV located at the entrance of every Fasfik outlets ala flight departure schedule at the airport. the plasma tv display the time the job is expected to began (incase there is a long waiting/que) and the time the job is expected to complete.



It is also because of 'time' that i never took up golf... i only have 24 hours in a day and i have other priorities... the most urgent priority now, is to ensure the success of Fasfik and to complete my book.... my book will provide an insight of the mind of a terminal cancer patient.. for those who wants to understand the predicament of their family members or relatives or friends who are suffering from a terminal cancer or undergoing major operation such as the Bone Marrow transplant that i underwent in 1990. i plan to launch the book next year, the 20th anniversary since i was diagnosed. Proceeds from the book will be channel to a cancer research such as MAKNA or Majlis Kanser Nasional.



But the most important factor about 'time' is how we spend it. If we win a RM1million lottery today, i am sure we all know where to shop and what we can do with the RM1m but here we are... gifted with 24 hours a day but do we really know how to spend our scarce 24 hours aday.



if we spend our time productively at work, we will be well rewarded (in bonus, promotion or incentives), if we spend our time attentively with family, even an hour or less, they will feel much appreciated. if we spend an extra few minutes listening to our customers/family/friends predicament, they will feel better. If we spend a few moment to pray, our prayers will be heard. If we spend a fix quality time daily to exercise, we will be healthier



The truth is, whatever problem anybody is facing.. is all related to time.