Hello, everyone. I’m Wei Wei, a community worker and a cervical cancer survivor.

 

The moment I got my cervical cancer diagnosis last year, my world collapsed. The surgery was successful, and I survived, but I permanently lost my fertility. Even though I already had a lovely daughter, that feeling of missing a part of my body still hurt deeply. I’d stare at myself in the mirror, feeling like I was no longer a complete woman. All the confidence I’d always had crumbled in an instant.

 

I struggled alone for a while, but eventually couldn’t hold on anymore. I wanted to find peers with similar experiences who wouldn’t judge me. And here, I really found the understanding I needed. We sat together, not feeling the need to hide or pretend to be strong, simply laying bare the most painful parts of our hearts.

 

The healing methods we used are very down-to-earth. Back then, Yaya led me and several other friends in handicrafts: plant dyeing and sachet sewing. The first sachet I made was filled with dried lavender, which I took home to give my daughter. She hugged it, sniffed it repeatedly, and told me that the sachet smelled just like when I held her to sleep when she was little.

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At that moment, I realized that true “wholeness” was never about having a perfect body in every way. A mother’s bond isn’t held by a single organ. It’s hidden in countless hugs, countless reminders, and countless days and nights of accompanying a child to grow. I lost something, but what I have has always been more than what I lost.

 

I finally stopped fixating on the physical incompleteness of my body and blaming myself. Instead, I learned to accept this scarred yet warm version of me. It turns out, a woman’s wholeness never lies in a single part of her body, but in the peace and tenderness of her heart. I want to tell every woman going through similar hardships: Our worth is never determined by whether a part of our body is complete, but by how we love and live as our true selves.