On 13 March 1993, she gave a concert during the national selection in Turkey to choose the artist for the Eurovision Song Contest 1993. In June, "Hey Girl" magazine named her the Promising Singer of the Year. In July, she performed at Rumelihisarı. In 1993 and 1994, she went to the US and underwent three surgeries for ulcerative colitis from which she had been suffering since the age of 11. She later described her illness with these words: "There was a wound in my bowel which didn't heal for years. Hospitals, diets, resting, beds... I used to go to the bathroom 35 times a day. My intestines could not hold anything." All of her large intestine was taken out during the surgery and, as a result, she had to walk with a bag in her hand for a year. She began to question her own existence as she thought she was going to die from the disease, and in her head she started asking questions such as "Why am I here? Why me?". Thus she started studying philosophy books and began meditation.