8/8/2019 Diwali with children fighting cancer

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LifeIn an attempt to lIght up thIs DIwalI for chIlDren sufferIng from

cancer, anD theIr famIlIes, ‘canKIDs…KIDscan’ InfuseD In them a

healthy Dose of optImIsm anD cheer… Anu GulmohAr reports.

 You don’t hAve to be A Goto defeAt this rAAvAn…

8/8/2019 Diwali with children fighting cancer

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the sunday indian 50 14 november 2010

l i f e

the sunday indian 51 14 november 2010

d i w a l i w i t h c a n c

orming the Ramlila on stage,and then waiting to receivepresents that the had wishedor. “Normall, during thecourse o the ear the do geta lot o stu, but it’s oen wewho decide what to give tothe children. Tis time weasked the children to makeWish Cards and then pra toLord Ganesh,” said PoonamBagai, President o CanKids…KidsCan. “We’ve got this little

stor too. Our mascots areaklu and akli, where aklu

is the little cancer bo andakli is the little cancer girl;we’re tring to destigmatisehair loss. So aklu and akligo to Ganesh and ask or a petand the Lord gives them Kek-du the crab. Te children askwh Kekdu, and Ganesh sasKekdu is a smbol o ourcancer, but as ou get overour ear o the disease, soou will learn to have a victo-r over our disease. And

that’s reall the genesis o thisWish Card,” smiled Poonam.

Wh such an initiative isespeciall commendable, isbecause hundreds o childrensuering rom cancer andtheir amilies witnessedbeore their ees that canceris beatable. When cancer isdiagnosed, people usuall believe that it is the end o theroad or them, but that is notthe case, especiall when thepatient is a child. “Childhoodcancer is curable i treated

properl and diagnosed ontime. More than 70 per cent

their braver and courage.Despite missing school ormost o the ear, a 9th stand-ard student, Varalakshmi stillscored 93 per cent. Anotherchild, an eight-ear-old girl(name withheld on request o parents) danced to the beat o 

 Aap ka kya Hoga… (Dhanno)  with unmatchable zest andexuberance, and i I had notknown that this was a DiwaliUtsav or cancer children, I

could never have guessed thatthis child had been battling

cancer or the last two ears.She is almost cured now, hermother inormed me. For the800 odd people who assem-bled on 30th October at DPS,children like these were shin-ing examples o how there islie aer cancer. Tere weremore reasons or childrenrom Institute Rotar CancerHospital, All India Institute o Medical Sciences (AIIMS)and other cancer centres in

Delhi to beam rom ear to ear,what with man o them per-

“CHILDHOODCANCR IS CURABLIF TRATD PROPRLAND DIAGNOSD ONTIM. MOR THAN 7PR CNT OF CASSCAN B TRATDSUCCSSFULL ANDCURD”

“Iwould like to sharewith ou a painuland unorgettablemoment o m lie.

Februar 14, 2009, is an un-orgettable da in m lie. Iwas studing in 8th standard.Aer the classes, as usual, Iwas plaing. Suddenl, I couldnot breathe. I was literall panting and gasping. Whenm parents took me to DrNaik, our amil doctor, he

advised me to go or an X-ra.I was admitted at KMC Hos-pital at Manipal. M lungswere lled with fuid. Whenthe doctors examined me the told me a bitter truth, I hadcancer, medicall called rhab-domosarcoma. I literall col-lapsed with the shock. M parents and near onesthought that it was the end o m lie.” Te audience – littlebos and girls in caps andscarves, their mothers and a-thers, volunteers o the NGOCanKids...KidsCan and stu-dents o Delhi Public School(DPS), Gurgaon – empatheti-call listened to Varalakshmi

Shett. “I experienced a lot o pain during m chemothera-p,” Varalakshmi continued.“When I began losing m beautiul hair, I could not ac-cept the act. yet I continuedthe treatment. Now, I’m happ to sa that m hair has begunto grow. Being a cancer pa-tient I would like to sa t hatwhoever is identied as a can-cer patient, please do not losehope. I request ou to not losecondence. I one has con-dence, one can win over an hardship, an sickness or an cancer. o this, I am a witnessstanding beore ou. I have re-sumed m studies; I’m happ to sa I stand rst in class.”Te audience clapped onhearing o her achievement.

Varalakshmi was amongthe ten children who wereawarded under CanKids…KidsCan 3rd National Child-hood Cancer ScholarshipProgram, and honoured or

o cases can be treated suc-cessull and cured,” sharedDr Gauri Kapoor, Head,Department o PaediatricHaematolog/ Oncolog &BM at Rajiv Gandhi CancerInstitute & Research Centre,Delhi. “Children have a lot o energ and the handle treat-ment much better than adults.God made their bod in sucha wa that children have thebest phsical condition and

the can tolerate the t reat-ment ver easil. Also, theirbodies don’t alread haveheart disease, hpertensionand other problems thatcome with age. All their or-gans are health. Cancer inchildren is highl curable,”asserts Dr Kapoor.

When a Varalakshmi or aNisha Kukreja (17-ear-oldwho was diagnosed with can-cer when she was all o ve;successull battled cancerand has been pursuing her ac-ademics, and recentl com-pleted a course in Punjabilanguage and is also skilled inHindi calligraph) came up

on stage, the parents presentwere shown a lie aer canceror their children too. Man-preet Brar was present at theDiwali Utsav and reiteratedthe parents’ role in the child’shealing. “Parents, ou are thereason wh our children willsurvive cancer,” she said ad-dressing the audience.“Trough parents children getthe strength. When the chil-dren see hope in their parent’sees, the too will believe thatthe can ght cancer and thatthe’re going to survive.” Op-timism is what the doctor alsoprescribes or parents. “It is ver essential to target theparents or counselling andkeep them motivated. Teirattitude is extremel impor-tant because the childrendon’t know anthing otherthan their parents. I the par-ent is sad and cring, thechild will also be sad and willcr. I the parent is happ,

cheerul, looking positivel, the chithat he has a diseaattitude plas a verole in successulling cancer. A poshas been scientito help overcomemedical conditionKapoor. Tere arecases o cancer pa viving and leadinlives even aer th

gave up, just b sttive and believingwill live, and thethis disease. I waswhen the mother8-ear-old girl, wer danced to Dhathe secret o her dcondence, “Her her condence hi ver positive throthat has helped th

A huge drawbapatients is that “ochildren have acccancer treatment ormed Dr Kapooa lack o capabiliting and treating c

cancer. In the remthere is not enougness, even amongpractitioners in smand villages, thereness that cancer isTe eel that as ithere is no point ithe child urther. great deal o needawareness even amtors, as Oncologwhich has come uthe last ew ears said Dr Kapoor.

“Te event toddeliver a messagechildren that outer, ou can survivwill still do well astill achieve,” saidBagai. As the awan came to a closedren danced to thwell . Hopeull, band children le tUtsav completelo the lrics.