Woman running 7 hawker stalls unable to work after cancer diagnosis, granted rental waiver of over $10k
After being diagnosed with cancer in February, hawker Yan Mengjing (transliteration) had to temporarily close her seven cooked food and market stalls to focus on recovery.
The 48-year-old single mum subsequently received rental waivers totalling over $10,000 from the National Environment Agency (NEA), reported Shin Min Daily News on Wednesday (Dec 18).
Yan, who hails from Myanmar, obtained Singapore citizenship in 2003. To raise her daughter after her divorce more than 10 years ago, she set up a yong tau foo stall before starting to sell seafood in 2019.
«At first, I had two stalls. Then, I noticed many vacant stalls and decided to rent them too. In addition to the six market stalls, I also run a cooked food stall selling Burmese curry,» she told Shin Min.
Yan was busy running the stalls — until she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in February.
Amid multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments that lasted over six months, Yan would periodically return to work.
«Due to my weakened immune system, the doctor advised me to avoid crowds, so I wasn't able to work as usual,» she said.