Kuala Lampur, April 30 -- When my grandfather was dying, he climbed a ladder and fell off it.

He passed on not long after.

It wasn't from the fall however, it was mostly from complications of late-diagnosed brain cancer.

I wonder what he would have thought if he could see me last week, also up a ladder.

My ceiling light needed replacing and it was a task I often did myself.

As I perched, seated on top of my faithful, paint-splashed aluminium ladder, reaching my arm out, I realised this time it was beyond me.

My arm could not stay steady enough to properly fit the new light into the brackets.

I kept taking deep breaths, raising my arm again, and again, until I accepted it was a lost cause.

It feels as though cancer's job is to keep...