He had earlier complained of bleeding. The doctors said that they were benign, and left the operation to a convenient time. The Lees went on their trip thinking that all was well. Now the polyps turned out to be intermediate-grade malignant lymphoma. That's the way these things happen.
Life goes on.
The phrases would recur throughout the hour-long interview with SM Lee. But he had pulled himself together, entered politics in December 1984 and made his mark almost immediately when he successfully steered an economic committee to pull Singapore out of its first recession in years. Theirs was a close-knit family which met regularly. They grew up at home, they didn't go to boarding school. The cancer threw up all sorts of fearful questions concerning BG Lee's immediate family.