Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Spread cancer awareness in rural areas: Shanta

Staff Reporter

Survivors share their experiences at annual reunion day

looking to the future: A participant holds a rose at the reunion at the Cancer Institute in Chennai on Sunday.

CHENNAI: Cancer survivors should form a cancer awareness group and go to rural areas where the understanding of the disease was poor, according to V. Shanta, chairperson, Adyar Cancer Institute.

At the sixth annual reunion day of survivors here on Sunday, she thanked them for heaping praise on the institute and on her and added that early cancer treatment was inexpensive and organ conservation was possible.

She also thanked the members of the Rotary Club of Madras Metro, who had undertaken renovation work at the old building of the institute on the nearby Canal Bank Road.

For survivors and their family, it was not a regular day at the institute on Sunday.

The brightly lit premises, the serial bulbs on trees and the smiling volunteers who lined the winding pathway to the institute’s backyard were a reminder of their journey through a difficult phase when cancer ruled their lives. Survivors who shared their experiences share a similar view — to them the institute is a temple.

Many of them recalled the initial moments of the diagnosis and the onset of new emotions that called for support from friends and family. Rotary Club of Madras Metro president V.S. Pradeep said 40 per cent of the patients were treated free of cost.

Listing the projects that the Club had taken up, he said the next plan was to set up a water purification plant at the institute at a cost of Rs.25 lakh.

Three autorickshaw unions were honoured for spreading awareness about the ill effects of tobacco.

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