Every year in February, Ugam, the childhood cancer survivors support group at Tata Memorial, observes International Childhood Cancer Day by playing a friendly cricket match with different stakeholders. Here, we trace the journey of Shekhar Jha, who is a passionate cricketer and deeply indebted to the organization.
In 1992 when 6-year-old Shekhar Jha came to Mumbai for treatment of Hodgkin's Lymphoma to Tata Memorial Centre, little did he know that it was the beginning of a deep lifelong bond…
Stories
The integration of psycho-oncology into cancer care has significantly helped alleviate emotional and psychological distress for both patients and caregivers. Savita Goswami, psycho-oncologist at Tata Memorial Hospital, discusses some of the psychotherapeutic intervention techniques used in paediatric cancer care. In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on psychosocial interventions in paediatric oncology care. What does it really entail? In the last two decades, great work has…
Mrunal Marathe, counsellor at St Jude India Childcare shares the challenges, fears and insecurities faced by children and teenagers affected by cancer and the impact on their families. What are the growing concerns of parents who have children with cancer? The first and largest problem is that most people aren’t aware that cancer is a disease that can affect children. Cancer is perceived as something adults get. After a diagnosis, parents often blame themselves and believe that is was something…
Living Better After Cancer - Adapting to a new Reality. This webinar, part of our ‘Living Better’ series on lived experiences of cancer survivorship sessions looks at the psycho-social aspects of young adults who have to deal with cancer. This session covers how cancer re-defines identity, how it affects relationships and friendships, equations at work and perspectives in life. Listen to an insightful and interesting conversation with Psycho Oncologist Aneri Shah and Cancer survivors…
Pranay Rangra, 34 from Mumbai was diagnosed with Stage 2 Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He shares his journey of dealing with cancer, the side effects of treatment and getting back into the workforce with the support of his family and colleagues Early Symptoms I have always been on the healthy side, but around late December of 2016, I started losing weight at a rapid pace. Initially I didn’t pay much attention to it and was actually glad to become a bit slimmer. Along with this weight loss, I started…
Children who are out of town patients often miss school for months on end. This affects the child socially and psychologically and often makes reintegration back to school difficult. Dr. Shital Raval visits Canshala which helps bridge that gap by providing continuity of education and normalcy to a child’s life. Set in a Municipal Marathi school in Parel, Canshala is a school for children with cancer, run in collaboration with the Mumbai MCGM. In contrast to the drab exterior, Canshala is a…
We come across various news and stories about what to and what not to eat during lymphoma. Beware of all statements that claim certain food or diets can cure Cancer. Here are a few myths and common questions people have about diet and lymphoma. 1. Is it safe to eat grapefruits? Grapefruit and grapefruit juice is said to be unsafe when on lymphoma treatment. This is true because grapefruit is found to potentially interact with a specific pathway called CYP3A4. This pathway is involved in the…
At 41, Hitesh Bhutta was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma of the stomach. According to him, understanding lymphoma can be daunting and complicated, especially the testing and prognosis of the disease, but look for positives. It is strange how sometimes a casual infection like flu could actually harbour an ominous illness. That's what I learnt in my journey with cancer. It started in 2006. I was 41-years-old. One morning, my father and I woke with viral fever. We both had sore throat, cough…
Tarak Sarkar shares his experience of Stem Cell Therapy and how he managed to handle it. Please tell us a bit about your condition In April 2016, my CT guided biopsy revealed that my previously Low grade Follicular Lymphoma had got transformed into higher grade DLBCL. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL or DLBL) is a cancer of B cells, a type of white blood cell responsible for producing antibodies. When were you diagnosed? I was diagnosed with Low grade Follicular Lymphoma which was…
Cara Chew, 32, from Singapore, was diagnosed with Diffused Large B-Cell Lymphoma. She shares her brush with cancer, chemo therapy and its after effects, and also how she learnt to overcome the trauma with Taichi, physical exercise and a positive mind. Cara, please tell us a bit about your condition In December 2015, I was diagnosed with Diffused Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) at one spot located at my lower left jaw at Stage 1. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common…
