A Woman’s Blitzkrieg Against Cancer!
When Mumbai-based 54-year-old Dipika Saraiya fought her own personal battle with cancer, armed with patience and grit rare to come by, she took it in her stride. Her family stood by her just as they always did. There had been upheavals of sorts since she was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2002, but the struggle was very much on. She wasn’t prepared to give up without putting up a fight. In the months to follow after that shocking diagnosis,
Dipika began to gather her life once again. Only this time, there was a guarded difference. “She wanted – so desperately – to live for her children - see her daughter complete her B.ED; son his MA and …do a lot more,” recalls sister Dr Rekha Shah.
And, for each day that followed, Dipika went about trying just about every alternative therapy in the book with the fervent hope that it would lengthen her life by those few more days. “She was even ready to be taken to a speciality centre where she could be administered Morphine shots to alleviate her pain. Fully aware of her condition, she refused to compromise with fate,” recalls Dr Rekha.
Dipika passed away on September 9th but not without a fight. Dipika will always be recalled by those who knew her as one who was overcome by the love and commitment towards her family even in her last days when another would be obsessed with her own morbid condition. A survivor in her own right, Dipika’s struggle made the meaning of life a lot clearer to the ones she left behind.
“Don’t give up without a fight,” she seemed to have said even in death.
In 1996, when Sangeeta Pandit was diagnosed with multiple myeloma – a type of blood cancer, she would have given up on life if it weren’t for her two children. “Looking at my sons then, one 10 years of age and the other barely four years old, I decided to go in for advanced treatment for their sake,” she recalls.
With the support of her sister and brother-in-law, both doctors who had apprised her of the ill-effects of therapy before she experienced the pain; chartered accountant husband who “refused to leave her side” while she was sick and V Care who stuck by her side through it all, she emerged victorious.
Today, Sangeeta looks back at life with a smile. She’s been one of the myriad cancer survivors who lived to tell the tale.
Probably few would understand their condition better than V Care’s founder Vandana Gupta. The tenacious home-maker had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when she was barely 42-years-old and least expected it. “While at first, I was happy that it wasn’t tuberculosis, it was only later that I realised that it was a form of cancer,” recalls the gritty Ms Gupta.
“There were the usual doubts, apprehensions and insecurities that came associated with the ‘C’ word. I’d even go to the doctor alone as I felt horrible having my family suffer each time I went in for therapy,” recalls Ms Gupta. “It was then that I realised how much it meant for someone diagnosed with cancer and his/her family to receive some guidance and help,” she says.
Going through each day, while suffering from Cancer, can be quite an ordeal for sufferers. For Vandana, like most other survivors, however, it was worse to watch her family suffer in tandem. “My heart ached each time I saw my husband, son and daughter run from pillar to post attempting to alleviate my condition,” recalls Ms Gupta. “It was then that I felt that I would put up a fight against the Big C and wouldn’t give up under any circumstance,” she says.
“Luckily for me, the kind of cancer that had afflicted me was less severe as compared to several others…and I came out of it,” maintains Ms Gupta. And, about the fight, she emerged a winner all the way! “Life,” as Ms Gupta puts it, “is just too precious to throw away for any reason whatsoever...cancer included!”
Hence, it was of little surprise when the cherubic Vandana initiated V Care – phonetically ‘We Care’ to exemplify Victory over Cancer in 1995. The NGO is dedicated to providing free, total support to those afflicted by the disease, so that the loved ones can receive the succour that they need.
It’s mostly to dispel doubts and popular fears that Vandana Gupta and her NGO have been striving for. “Sometime back, I was counselling a woman who suffered from cancer and was being treated successfully as it had been detected early on,” recalls Vandana. “Sadly, at the very same time, her father-in-law was sinking from the same disease and she had to contend with cold looks from her in-laws who couldn’t bear her recovery and his simultaneous deterioration,” says Vandana.
“The will to survive is known to overcome a huge number of diseases including Cancer even AIDS,” endorses endoscopy expert Dr Pankaj Dhawan. “Very often, a lot of patients with very severe life-threatening conditions are known to carry themselves as if nothing were the matter simply by sheer will,” he says.
“Usually, a cancer patient’s fears are myriad in form. Sometimes, it’s about losing hair and whether it’ll grow back after chemotherapy. Or, it’s about death and whether there’s life beyond,” says survivor Ms Gupta. “Often, putting my own case before patients makes a huge difference. When they see me hale and hearty, they feel that they too stand a chance. Sometimes, they just need to be heard out,” she adds.
Very often, it’s the family of the cancer survivor who’s hit the worst. “It’s here that our team – working on entirely voluntary basis without any profit motive – comes into play,” she says. “It’s very distressing to see one stop treatment because they don’t have adequate funds. Our primary aim is to ensure that this never happens. If a person does run out of funds, we provide for interim help. Or in cases like Hodgkin’s, where the recovery rate is good and the course of treatment small, we even fund the entire thing,” maintains Vandana.
“If despite being an educated woman, I could be terrified when I learned that I was suffering from a form of cancer and worry about how many years I had left…the need for the hour is to dispel disinformation,” she says.
“Sadly, with the spurt of information gathered over the years on cancer management, a change in attitude even at the professional health manager’s level is yet to be achieved,” says psychiatrist Dr Ketan Parmar. “Vandana’s case like a few spirited others is an example of the human will’s triumph against all odds,” adds Dr Parmar.
V Care caters to the needs of patients at different levels with volunteers going to different hospitals in the city. The volunteers direct patients to the hospital social work department and has built up a list of addresses that are convenient and economical. “Every second Saturday of February each year, V Care celebrates Cancer Survivors’ Day spreading the hum honge kamyaab attitude,” says Vandana.
Among the series of activities that V Care conducts on a regular basis, it has been providing treatment to approximately 2,000 patients per year for a whopping decade since its inception. And, considering the yeoman’s service the NGO provides to society, it’s hardly surprising to note that most of the Cancer survivors or their immediate relatives opt to become V Care’s volunteers for life. “We have a string of volunteers mostly those who’ve either been touched personally or through their family by the Big C and realise the need to reach out and educate as well as emotionally buffer others affected,” says Ms Gupta.
“None of our patients are cancer victims. Everyone who is battling the disease is a cancer survivor. If you have a positive attitude, half your battle is won. Cancer is curable…sadly most people don’t realise that,” she says.
