Jamin Jeow was a high school physics teacher before his cancer diagnosis. After taking off time for treatment, a year later Jeow was ready to return to work. But he felt some reservations.

"I was given the green light to return to work. However, I found that the idea of stepping back into professional life filled me with uncertainty – the kind that has more to do with my identity than with my capabilities.

"Psychologically, I was dealing with a sense of identity loss that was unexpectedly crippling, one that came from no longer being sure about who I was, or whether my work in education had defined me more than I knew. Could I still operate at the same level I used to? Did I even want to do it? How would my colleagues see me?"

He ended up changing careers within the same school and became a career counselor, a role that was much more accommodating to his side effects and energy levels than having a full classroom of students. "In many ways, it felt like starting over. But what kept me going was a simple motivation: I still cared deeply about my students and wanted to continue supporting them in their journey beyond the classroom."

Read more of Jeow's story here.