Braving the deadly "C"

Cancer Survivors—Mary Ann Das Gupta--Breast Cancer
Santanu Saraswati
santanu_saraswati@hotmail.com
Kolkata— It was like any other morning of 2001 for a disciplined retired school principal. Just after giving a quick look on the newspaper’s headlines, and finishing household chores Mary Ann Das Gupta was about to get ready for her writing, when she witnessed a lump in her breast.

Like any other woman, Mary Ann was little shocked, thinking of the worst—cancer. “Without any delay, I went to my family physician for a check. And he advised me to have a mammography. My doubts were right. I had cancer. Breast cancer—no woman would ever think of this disease even in her weirdest dream. There are four main types of breast cancer found in this city—carcinoma, duct carcoma, melanoma and lympho carcoma. I had the fourth one—lympho carcoma. The doctor advised me a surgery and referred my case to one of his friend who was a general surgeon,” said Mary Ann.

Mary Ann’s case was little different. She is single. And all she had to carry it out was a lone battle against world’s one of the most deadly disease. Just like any other commoner, Mary Ann was about to consult that general surgeon before one of her very close friend stopped her. Her friend, who is a psychiatrist, was horrified knowing that she would be getting her surgery done by a general surgeon.

The qualified psychiatrist was wise. She started shouting at Mary Ann, saying, “Are you mad? You should go to a qualified onco-surgeon. Who will take care of post-operative complications and regular check up? Do you know how many lives we miss because a majority of cancer patients don’t get treated by qualified oncologists?” That’s, in her own words, how this retired principal and author of many text books, met eminent onco-surgeon and founder Bengal Oncology Centre, Gautam Mukhopadhyay.

Mary Ann was having late Stage II lympho carcoma. The onco-surgeon gave her three choices of dates for surgery and, “I chose my 66th birthday. What could be better than having a rebirth on the day one was born. All cancer attacked-lymph nodes were removed, without removing the entire breast. And that’s nearly nine years,” Mary Ann said.

Everything is just more than perfect for this strong-willed US-born German, who got settled in this City of Joy—the city where Mother Teresa carried out her noble works for humanity. Since morning to till night, Mary Ann has very little scope to rest—starting from writing text books, managing Share House Charitable Trust, a non-profit making organisation for helping the education of poor and destitute children of this city, and acting in films and television soaps. “The only thing, I follow religiously is carrying out a check up every six months and a mammography, of alternate breast once a year. People should not lose hope, if detected cancer. Cancer is curable, absolutely provided you reach and get treated only by a qualified oncologist. The mortality rate of cancer is still very higher only because a large section of cancer patients get confused and visits anyone’s chamber. I am living, absolutely fine, without any single complication. And I neither have any maid servant in my home to manage the household chores. I manage it by own. People die in cancer more because of lack of awareness and sheer confusions,” Mary Ann added with a shining smile, which never disappeared throughout this interview.

Cancer Survivor—Tarun Kumar Basak—Oral Cancer
Kolkata— If anyone asks what really made him so courageous to battle and win the fight against cancer, this slim thin man, riding his mobike always at 40 kilometers per hour, even in busy Kolkata streets, Tarun Kumar Basak, will grin and reply: “Rabindranath Tagore’s poem-- Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments; By narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way; Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee; Into ever-widening thought and action; Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

A resident of Beadon Street in old Kolkata, Tarun, could be just another example from whom 70,000 new patients detected with cancer every year in this city, can learn ‘how to win battles and influence others to conquer diseases like cancer’. “I had the habit of chewing gutkhas. It was in December 2004, I first started feeling pain in my gum. There was burning sensations and I was having problem in taking food,” Tarun said.

Just like any other common Kolkatans, he went to check it up with a dentist in north Kolkata. “The doctor gave me some steroids. But my conditions deteriorated. The small cysts developed by then into a big muscle lump. And I was detected cancer. I started thinking that death is just waiting for me. It’s a situation which no one can express in words. No words can suffice to the mental pain and inner turbulences, I was going through. My in-laws stopped visiting my place, in fear that I might ask for financial help to carry on my treatment. My son was then a final year student of BCA and daughter in school. It was my wife, who, without losing hope, gave me all courage to fight against this disease—finally which I won,” Tarun said with a very profound voice.

Being just an agent of LIC, it was not possible for Tarun to continue the huge expenses of treating cancer. “For me, my friends and colleagues, in LIC stood by me. They helped me a lot. And last but not the least is my onco-surgeon, Gautam Mukhopadhyay. Mukhopadhyay was very honest in his observations while treating me. He helped me a lot in treating me absolutely at a very minimum cost, and even arranged my radiation at NRS Medical College & Hospital absolutely free of cost. Litton Naha Biswas was the radiologist who successfully carried out 29 radiation therapy session on my face,” Tarun added.

Tarun was in stage-III oral cancer, if his doctor is to be believed. Mukhopadhyay had to operate his left jaw completely to save his life. Tarun, however, has no repentance, except one: “Government spend crores of rupees on AIDS and HIV campaigns, but not a single penny on cancer awareness.”

This cancer survivor has a message, too, for every cancer patients: “For getting cured absolutely, one doesn’t need to go to Mumbai or Chennai or anywhere in the world. Kolkata has the best cancer doctors, but one should know who they are. This can save life—and if people battling against cancer don’t lose believe on themselves.”

Cancer Survivor—Sipra Chatterjee—CA Colon

Kolkata—“If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don’t. If you like to win but think you can’t; It’s almost a cinch you won’t. If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost. For out in the world we find, Success begins with a fellow’s will; It’s all in the state of mind”.

Sixty-one year old cancer survivor, Sipra Chatterjee, never read poet, C.W. Longenecker’s famous poem—The Victor. But if one tries to translate her beliefs in English, it’s almost same what Longenecker wrote in his poem—The Victor. “I believe in God, even when my husband died in lung cancer in 2000. My sons were not matured by then, but I never lost hope. I never lost my faith in God, the day my doctor diagnosed cancer in colon. I tell my God, whether to live or die, I know not which is best: To live in Thee is bliss to me, To die is endless rest.”

Winning her battle against cancer was never easy for this woman when the attending doctors were not very hopeful about her recovery. Sipra was diagnosed cancer in her colon when the disease was in late Stage-III. “I couldn’t guess it. I had morning sickness and uncontrollable bowl syndrome. I was having immense pain in my back—which I thought could have been because of my bleeding piles and hernia. Even after appendix and hernia operation in 2007, when things were not perfect with me, my surgeon, Dilip Ghosh, referred my case to onco-surgeon Gautam Mukhopadhyay,” Sipra said.

The onco-surgeon advised me some pathological tests and CT scans, before histopathology report confirmed the disease. “I have seen my husband dying in cancer. So knew its pains. But I wanted to live—because of my children. They have no one in this world except me, so I decided to fight out this disease. I just prayed to my God saying living or dying, Lord, I ask but to be Thine. My life in Thee, Thy life in me, Make heaven forever mine,” she added.

Sipra was no non-operable condition when Mukhopadhyay first examined her. “There was an abnormal growth of tumor in the colon and the entire excretory passage was blocked. We didn’t have any option than registering chemotherapy to reduce the size of the tumour first so that we could try out operation. Clinical oncologist Somnath Sorcer, carried out the chemotherapy session. And after registering four IV chemotherapy sessions, the size of the tumor got reduced. It took me four hours or little more to operate her in a private nursing home,” Mukhopadhyay added.

What made her different from other types of cancer patients, is her courage to fight against the disease. After operation, Sipra, again had to undergo through two chemotherapy sessions that made her living absolutely normal for the past one and half year. Who give you courage to fight out this disease? Sipra just smiled and said: “What is courage? What defines a courageous act? It is said that the brave and cowardly person are both fearful. However, it is the brave one who faces his fear and does what needs to be done. We will be faced with many things that scare us throughout our lives. How can we become the kind of people that face our fear and do it anyway? Human growth takes place when we take small steps. Each time we face our fears we become more of the courageous person that we would like to be”.


Cancer Survivor—Dipanwita Sarkar—CA Ovary

Kolkata—“Life’s battles don’t always go; To the stronger or faster man; But sooner or later, the man who wins; Is the man who thinks he can”—this famous inspirational quote could be the right adage for Dipanwita Sarkar.

The 62-year-old Kasba resident and wife of retired CESC, employee, Amitabha Sarkar, Dipanwita, an ovarian cancer-winner is not only a courage to her family, but could become an example of millions of cancer-battlers around the globe. Seeing her always smiling, singing all popular Tagore songs, travelling in a crowded bus from one part of city to another, or sometimes bargaining prices at Gariahat fish market—one should start believing: Cancer is just like any other diseases, that can be cured.

“It was in end 2006. I was addicted to all types of educational programmes on television, where a doctor was advising self examination of certain body organs especially for women above 40. Taking the cue, I did some and suddenly felt a lump inside below my naval. Without delaying, I went for a checkup with my family physician, who advised me to consult with a gynecologist. We, at that time, were having a family function. So I suppressed the entire episode to the other members of my family. After everything was over, I told my husband, who took me to Bijit Choudhury, a gynecologist,” Dipanwita recollected.

Dipanwita went for a surgery. Both of her ovaries and uterus got operated in a city private nursing home. Her ovaries had tumours, not very small and the histopathology report confirmed cancer. “My husband consulted his office colleagues, and then took me to Tata Memorial Cancer Foundation in Mumbai. I got admitted there under clinical oncologist Hari Menon. Menon registered six chemotherapy sessions, and believe me, when I used to see others in the Tata hospital weeping over their fate, I consoled them saying, it’s our time to be confident and keep self believe. We should not weep, but fight out with our best will power and we are sure to win,” Dipanwita added.

Everything was absolutely okay with this woman with a strong heart till mid-2008, before she again noticed a lump just below her naval. The journey, which everyone in Sarkar family thought to have ended, got restarted. “We again went to Tata Memorial Hospital and Menon advised six chemotherapy sessions again. But after registering the fifth chemo, I got chicken-pox attack. We came back to Kolkata. The situation, day-by-day was deteriorating, and I was admitted in Ruby General Hospital. We knew the people in Ruby Hospital’s management, so even being infectious, I got admission. There I met clinical oncologist, Somnath Sorcer. He and an expert in medicine helped me getting rebirth,” she added.

The second phase chemotherapy didn’t come any use for Dipanwita. Sorcer registered another six sessions of chemotherapy that made her putting a stop on cancerous cell growth inside the body. “I will be going to Mumbai again this March for a final check-up. I am not absolutely fine. Whenever I think I need a boost, I took it alone myself. I strongly believe in the lines of Robert Frost’s famous poem—The Roads Not Taken. I believe-- Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both; And be one traveler, long I stood; And looked down one as far as I could; To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that passing there; Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay; In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference,” Dipanwita said with smile that never will hopefully disappear. EOM