KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian celebrity Chef Wan has been diagnosed with lymphoma cancer. The 65-year-old announced the news to his one million followers on Instagram on Thursday (Aug 3) evening. 

In his post, the father of two said that doctors broke the news to him at 3pm on Thursday after performing a biopsy of his lymph nodes twice.

Chef Wan, whose full name is Mr Redzuawan Ismail, said he would be undergoing a PET scan on Friday to determine where the cancer had spread and what stage the disease was at.

He said that his oncologist was confident that the disease was at its early stage due to the size of the tumour and the fact that Chef Wan had felt "normal and not sick" prior to the diagnosis. 

“At this stage chances usually to get cured is 70 to 80 per cent,” he said, adding that he would also undergo a test on his bone marrow on Monday before starting chemotherapy — which would last for 13 weeks. 

Chef Wan also injected some humour in his post, saying that he could already imagine himself wearing different wigs with styles akin to Elvis Presley, M. Daud Kilau, Samy Vellu and Liberace.

He also referenced the “Linda Blair vomit” scene from the movie Exorcist when talking about the impending side effects of chemotherapy.

“Will look bad to look better after that lah,” he said, adding that he accepted his diagnosis "with an open heart and great courage", and that one "simply need(s) to take things one at day at a time". 

As to how his family took the news, Chef Wan said his daughter and son-in-law broke down but he told them not to cry as he would be fine.

“I am not leaving yet! I need to be strong and get well as I also need to look after so many people. Insyallah Allah will look after me,” he said, expressing his thankfulness that the disease was discovered at an early stage.

He also asked his followers not to worry about him as he hoped to inspire others.

“We will all go through this together.”

Chef Wan’s mother Noraini Abdullah was also diagnosed with cancer and passed away in January this year. MALAY MAIL