It is with great pride I am writing this small article as a Cancer Survivor.

I am a Parsi. I am neither a smoker nor a tobacco chewer. I also do not eat gutka or pan masala. Unfortunately, I have been a victim of fate, as my dentist who used to treat me did not find out that I had developed an ulcer under my tongue due to continuous friction of dentures with my tongue. This was due to faulty denture being made and not adjusted properly. Many a times I used to get severe pain. When my family noticed my agony they took me to a young dentist who detected the ulcer as soon as he examined me. He advised that I should immediately consult an oncologist overnight as it had reached second stage. Both my wife and I were taken aback.

However, I took courage in my hand & decided to go to our Fire Temple first to get the blessing of our Holy Fire & our God, before taking further effective steps to come over it. Three basic teachings of our Zoroastrian Religion is GOOD THOUGHTS, GOOD WORDS & GOOD DEEDS. It is My faith in God & my Prayers, & GOOD Thoughts, during my treatment, coupled with care taken & sympathy shown, by my Humble & Efficient Oncologist & my wife, sons & family which paid the dividends in the end.

Fortunately, as my luck would have it, my Onco Dr Pawan Gupta happened to be class mate & a great friend of my physician Dr Ajay Agarwal who got me an appointment with Dr Pawan the very next day, i.e. 16th june 2009. I went & saw Dr Pawan for the first time & as soon as I saw him my confidence was enhanced as I found him to be a very humble, caring & thorough gentleman. I also saw a small round badge on his coat lapel which read: “I can Win” “Positive about Life” This further enhanced my confidence & will to survive as I felt these words were God sent to me. I told Dr. I have full faith in him & shall abide by whatever advice he gives.

During my 35 radiation sittings Dr.M.Gairola at SM curie Centre, who was looking after this treatment, was also very Sympathetic, kind & helpful. I had developed so much of confidence & faith with these doctors around, that even for my radiation I used to go with a smiling face, with slogan in my mind “I Can Win”. My wife who accompanied me always used to remain tense, worried & people around thought that it she who is having problem & not me.

Unfortunately, even after Radiation & minor surgery, there was still some trace left & finally I had to go through a major surgery. In spite of this, as stated above, my faith in my Onco coupled with my faith in God & prayers, was so great that I with stood all the storm & finally came out a Winner. It is unbelievable that even after surgery & till date, I never felt any pain.

During my misery, love, affection given & care taken by my wife, my sons & moral & financial support given by my family was unbelievable. This further gave me a lot of comfort & boosted my moral to fight the disease.

It is now four years since I had my surgery & I am leading an absolutely normal life. However, I still continue to get my check ups & CT scan done, at regular intervals. A. Do not be afraid, Cancer is curable disease if detected at an early stage. So follow advice.

Moral of the Story:

• “Jeena dana mut choopana; Doctor ki pass turant jana; Or Turant ooska upai jaroor Karana”
• Keep faith in your God & your prayers.
• Be positive about life, it will pay dividends.
• Keep faith in your Doctors & Family & you will get all the comfort you need.
• Get yourself be examined at regular intervals so as to avoid any hiccups.
• Be a part of “Cancer Awareness Programmes”. Help needy & advice all to be vigilant & not to neglect any signs. “Prevention is always better than cure.”
• Always say “Yes I can Make it” & finally you shall be the “WINNER”
• Promote “I can win Association” s initiative & activities for awareness & early prevention of disease by giving moral & financial, support wherever possible.

Yes, truly the slogans, “I can win” & “Be Positive About Life” has finally made me a “Cancer Survivor” & a “Cancer Winner”.