What to say after you say hello
… to the families of children with cancer:
Please don’t say: “I don’t know how you handle it, I just couldn’t do it!” What are we supposed to do, shrivel up and die because our child has cancer? We aren’t “handling” it because we are superior people, we simply have no choice. We have to protect our children. In fact maybe we are not “handling” it at all, it may be that we are a total emotional mess, but we have to save our kids so in the haze of hospital rooms and surgeries and toxic drugs put in our children’s veins we focus on the important facts that we have to know - like focussing on the taillights of the car in front of you as you drive through the fog. And we may have a smile on our face as we talk to you, but that doesn’t mean we don’t cry in the nights, it only means that we are trying to make you comfortable so that you will keep talking to us.
And this is how one small community in New Delhi has come together to support a family in their fight against cancer:
Satish Veshwal, 28, hurriedly counts his earnings for the day. For half of whatever he earns from a small-time departmental store in Mongolpuri, he gives to Ved Bahadur Thapa, his tenant for two months. Satish Kumar Saraswat, 52, meanwhile, goes door-to-door asking for monetary help from the neighbours so that Thapa’s 13-year-old daughter Beena wins her battle against cancer.(link)Beena has been diagnosed with leukemia (blood cancer) three months back. Thapa asked for advance from his employer but was sacked. He worked at a factory. Thapa’s neighbours in Madrassi colony, Mangolpuri, have now come forward for help..
