Singaporean father Sadayan Ahmed Maideen Jabbar became so violent and abusive to his wife and kids that they filed for a divorce. A year later, the doctors discovered why he suddenly became violent-he had glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable brain cancer. His recovery made him a changed man and gave him a second chance at marriage.
Sadayan, 48, was happily married for 15 years when he suddenly became verbally and physically abusive to his wife and four children in 2020. He said that in two years, things changed, and he thought it was on him, Channel News Asia reported.
The usually even-tempered and mild-manner product manager thought it was just stress. He assumed that it was just a behavioral change as it was also the time when he started working at home.
The violence escalated to a point where the family had to call the police, prompting the couple to file for a divorce approved in 2020.
Brain Cancer Glioblastoma
A year after the divorce, Sadayan was suddenly having seizures. It would last for 20 seconds, but he could not remember anything. However, he recalls getting a metallic taste after the episodes.
Doctors from the National University Hospital (NUH) scanned his brain and found a 3cm cancerous tumor in his temporal lobe.
Sadayan's doctors told The Strait Times that the brain cancer, glioblastoma, was found in the amygdala, the part of the brain linked to emotions such as anger, fear, and aggression control. Amygdala is also the emotional part of the brain responsible for rage, anger, or the fight or flight response.
Glioblastoma is an aggressive and incurable brain cancer that leaves patients with a median life expectancy of 18 to 24 months. It occurs in three cases per 100,000 people. Dr. Yeo Tseng Tsai, the head of NUH's neurosurgery department, said the tumor was insignificant, measuring only 2.5 cm in diameter.
However, Yeo thinks that the tumor caused Sadayan to behave violently. It destroyed pathways that inhibit violent response hence freeing him of any inhibition. Sadayan turned online to learn more about the condition, but he got grim results. He decided to leave everything to his doctor.
He underwent surgery a day before his birthday in July last year. The operation took four hours, and it was successful. He had another operation to remove more tumors three weeks later. When he recovered, he found that he was "not the angry man like before."
A second chance at love
He realized that he missed his family. There were days that he wondered why he divorced his wife and the violence that led to the divorce.
Although he was hesitant to reach out to them, he eventually shared his condition. To his surprise, the former wife took him to his chemotherapy and cared for him. Things improved, and they decided to remarry in April this year. The family is now living under one roof again.
As per Mothership, Sadayan remains grateful to Dr. Yeo and the doctors for giving him a "second chance" to live and helping him return to his family's loving arms.
