Six Women, One Disease & A United Fight Against Cancer

Neethu Sheri Kurian

Content Specialist
4baseCare

Fight against cancer is never an easy one. But one single person’s fight against cancer can turn into an inspiration for many. In this blog, we are going to read about six women who put up a united fight and serve as an inspiration for everyone.

This year the theme of World Cancer Day is ‘I am and I will’. It’s a call to individual action for cancer prevention, research, destigmatisation and treatment for maximum impact on future cancer care.

Cancer Incidence:
Every year approximately 17 million people worldwide get diagnosed with Cancer resulting in 16.3 million deaths. Growth in the number of diagnosed patients is estimated to be 27.5 million by 2020 (IARC). In India around 1.6 million people are diagnosed with cancer every year (ICMR ) with 0.8 million resulting deaths. 76000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer alone.

About The Video:
On World Cancer Day 2019, 4baseCare and Cheers To Life Foundation joins hand to collaborate and spread awareness about the different aspects of the disease. We’ve created a video featuring six inspiring women and their victorious journey through and beyond breast cancer, in collaboration with the Cheers to Life foundation run by Ms. Dimple Bawa, an indomitable spirit and a Breast Cancer survivor herself (https://cheerstolifefoundation.org/). This video is an account of the first hand experiences of six women from diagnosis to recovery.

Diagnosis & Acceptance:
The shock of a cancer diagnosis is so great that it is compared to post traumatic stress disorder by psychologists often pushing patients into isolation and long term depression. One of the first things that women deal with after a breast cancer diagnosis is the stigma attached to it. In many cultures women are so scared of being shunned by society that they often choose death over treatment! This is evident in data collected by WHO for India which suggests that over 60% women get diagnosed with breast cancer in stage III or later. Women often fear their relationships would crumble in the wake of breast cancer, especially with their significant others. Their husbands abandoning them after surgery substantiate many of their fears. As one of these women mention that even though she, the patient was able to accept the diagnosis her husband wasn’t. Women should be encouraged to seek treatment early and appreciate the value of their lives outside their roles as wives, mothers and so on.

This is why we need to present examples of breast cancer patients as survivors and not victims!

The Treatment:
After acceptance comes the very real battle with cancer during treatment. Chemotherapy is so brutal that even though cancer patients might be as mentally strong as they can be, their bodies give up because of the side effects. Side effects of chemo include fatigue, hair loss, bruising and bleeding, infection, anemia (low red blood cell counts), nausea and vomiting, appetite changes, constipation, diarrhoea, mouth, tongue and throat problems such as sores and pain with swallowing as one patient mentions the metastasis that impacted her throat leaving her unable to eat. There are nerve and muscle problems such as numbness, tingling, and pain, dry skin and color change, bladder changes, changes in libido and fertility problems to name a few.

Barring the physical effects there comes the weight of psychological effects.

As one woman recounts, the most jarring moment of her life was when her hair started falling out in clumps. Patients experience a host of psychological issues combined with external stressors such as finance, child care, abandonment in relationships.

Fight and Victory:
Cancer is a war against which everything fades away and what remains is the unbeatable will to survive. Inspite of all that patients go through, they come out victorious gaining in resilience, mental and physical strength, optimism and thankfulness for life.

The best advice our incomparable warriors have is to stay positive when it feels impossible, follow doctors’ advice and rely on caregivers, take as much medical and psychological support as possible, stay confident and spread a message of hope that serves to inspire people with their ongoing battle with this life altering disease.

We request you to share your personal experience with Cancer as a patient or as a caregiver and be the ray of hope for others in your circumstances. Your victory and your endurance will give others the strength to keep fighting.
#MyCancerStory #TogetherWeBeatCancer