From Shock to Graduation: Joshua Lee’s Unexpected Journey

In mid-2024, then 24-year-old Joshua Lee was halfway through a psychology degree at the National University of Singapore when a bouldering fall sent him to the hospital. The pain was extreme, but the real shock came from the tests that followed: he had stage 3 testicular cancer, already spread to his lymph nodes, and his carefully planned life was suddenly unclear.

What followed was a gruelling six-month chemotherapy regimen, a leave of absence from university, and a profound emotional struggle. At his lowest, Lee felt anger and a loss of purpose—stripped of the ability to travel, eat, or move as he pleased. For weeks he could not even pray. A Bible passage that moved from lament to hope became a turning point, but the real shift came from the people around him. Family, friends he hadn’t heard from in a decade, and his new girlfriend (now fiancée) rallied around him, dissolving the anger he carried.

NUS also stepped up. When his illness made a year-long community leadership project impossible, a professor arranged in two days for him to swap it for two modules. Staff sent care packages, checked in regularly, and even offered to help raise funds for his treatment. Lee returned to university without eyebrows and wearing long sleeves to hide collapsed veins, but the experience gave him the courage to live “a bit more unapologetically”—choosing niche coursework and striking up deeper conversations with professors.

By November 2025, Lee had completed his studies and was declared cancer-free. That same month he graduated with honours and, in January 2026, began work as a senior programme executive at the Singapore Cancer Society—a career shift inspired by a module on patients and healthcare he took during recovery. He and his fiancée will marry next April. “It has given me courage to be less hesitant…even doing things that are almost impractical, but of value to me,” he said.

How Faith, Community and a University Reshaped His Outlook

This is, on its face, one student’s story. But it offers concrete glimpses into how institutional and community support can alter a health crisis’s trajectory.

A University That ‘Walks the Talk’

NUS’s response was notable not just for sympathy but for fast, practical accommodation. Replacing a full-year project with two modules within 48 hours removed a source of academic anxiety that could have derailed Lee’s recovery. It also underlined the Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Centre’s stated mission—supporting community development even when a student becomes the one needing community.

The Career Ripple Effect

Lee had long planned to work with at-risk youth. His pivot to healthcare was not prompted by a grand mission but by a single psychology module on patients and healthcare, taken during recovery. Watching elderly cancer patients face harsher treatments with a smile created a connection that overrode his earlier plans. Less visible but equally important: the shift was only possible because NUS allowed him to continue his studies on a different timeline and in a different mental space. For universities and employers, the story points to how flexibility during personal crises can unlock entirely new workforce paths.