Veteran journalist Silawi looks ahead after conquering cancer

AMMAN –– For veteran television journalist Saad Silawi, how good his voice sounds is not as important as delivering the right information to his audience. 

Silawi, who managed to beat throat cancer after three surgeries, can now only speak through an internal electrolarynx. 

“I am not a singer; I am a journalist who wants to deliver a message to his audience. I don’t care about the quality of my voice, I care about how to provide my audience with right and accurate information,” he told The Jordan Times in an interview at his office in Amman. 

Silawi, Al Arabiya News Channel’s regional bureau manager and senior correspondent, said if any person wants to conquer cancer, he has to have courage and patience. 

“I dealt with the most awful disease. I had the needed patience and courage to stay alive.”

Silawi said he was able to beat the disease thanks to God and his doctor, Roger Tabah — a Canadian of Lebanese origin — of the Montreal General Hospital and McGill University.  

“He [Tabah] saved my life... Now it’s been a year since the first surgery,” Silawi recounted, adding that the second operation was a laryngectomy. 

“The doctor told me ‘When you were born, it took you one-year-and- a-half to speak. Today, you were born again. You have to be patient and I promise you that you will be back on TV and speak again.’”

The journalist spent seven months without speaking a word. 

“It was really cruel. Imagine, I used to speak in several media outlets and speaking is the pillar of my work.”  

Tabah later performed the third surgery, which enabled him to speak. 

“During my stay at the hospital, Their Majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania sent me flowers and called my wife to check on me,” Silawi noted.   

One day before the surgery, Silawi had the courage to go live and tell his audience: “This is the last time I will speak normally. I have throat cancer.” 

“I felt that the cancer hit me in the most important part of my body — the source of my income. But I wanted to give people an example of how to overcome it and I managed to conquer it,” Silawi said.

The journalist was awarded the Order of Al Hussein for Distinguished Contributions of the Second Class last month at the official ceremony marking Jordan’s Independence Day.

“When the King gave me the medal, he told me: ‘We did not forget you and... what you did for the country,’” he added, noting that the award was an honour for him and all Jordanian journalists.  

Looking back at his 30-year career in the media, Silawi said his family was against his decision to pursue a career in journalism.

“As any Jordanian family, they wanted me to be a doctor or an engineer, but I refused because I wanted to be a journalist,” added Silawi, who has one son and two daughters. 

“In 1991, I began working at MBC. I have been working with them for 23 years. I am the oldest correspondent,” he said. 

“MBC is my second family who supported me and checked on me when I was receiving treatment.”

During an illustrious career, which included a stint at Al Rai, Silawi covered several wars and crises, including the Iraq-Iran conflict in the 1980s, the first Gulf War and the first and second Palestinian intifadas. 

He has met with several prominent world figures, including his Majesty King Hussein and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Stressing the importance of putting credibility first, Silawi advised young journalists not to risk their lives and to have the courage to be successful in their job. 

“I am proud to be a journalist and I worked hard to pursue my dream.”