Cancer awareness: The 'king of maladies' yet to be vanquished

There are very few childhood memories that bend my lips and left me giggling. One of them is my mother's when she used to comb her long hair and the bright smiling face that looked divine without makeup. It used to feel like falling in love with her almost every day.

As time passed, the pride of having long hair became a challenge to her. Eventually, she got irritated with the struggle faced every day before leaving for work. Maintenance of long hair is never easy and in those days, there was a little scope of going to the salon for its proper upkeep.

Her continuous struggle had forced her to cut her hair and come up with a new look. A look that I did not admire at all but she was happy. Now, her hair was falling to the shoulder, not till her waist. She seemed happy. As they say, 'short hair, don't care'.

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At that time, she had no idea that what is about to come her way. The struggle of dealing with long hair was going to end for some time. The chemotherapy, a therapy to cure her of the deadly disease cancer, a therapy that gave her a new life, a therapy no one wants to experience, a therapy that left brutal marks on her body. When I said repercussions, severe hair fall is one of them. Just after her first chemo, she went bald.

As I was attending my mother during the treatment, I have seen her in pain very closely. I have also seen other patients in distress, not only adults but children too. The worst thing happened to me was to see these little ones in immense pain. Their cries used to echo in the whole hospital. Though, they were definitely a motivation for others. I used to tell my mum that, "Mom please don't cry, look at them, even they are getting their treatment done". It did not reduce her pain but I had nothing else to say. During that therapy, she has experienced the worst time of her life.

Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide. In India, cancer risk is constantly on the rise with 10 lakh people diagnosed with it every year. Around 7 lakh of them die, making it one of the leading causes of death. Cancer awareness is very important in today's context. Due to lack of knowledge, people are getting affected by this deadly disease. Once, this disease takes hold on a person, then it takes forever to get rid of it.

There are numerous NGO working for the betterment of cancer patients but how many of them are really focusing on palliative care? There is no proper awareness about the disease and diagnosis happens when a person has reached the terminal stage. Meanwhile, there is a unique way to create cancer awareness that has become a trend among young generation that is "No-Shave November". It is a web-based non-profit organisation which is devoted to growing awareness about cancer.

No-Shave November is a month-long journey during which participants forgo shaving and grooming in order to evoke conversation and raise cancer awareness. It is meant to create awareness by embracing our hair and letting it grow wild and free. Instead of going to the salon and spending the money on grooming, donate it for cancer awareness and raising funds to support cancer prevention, research, and education with a mission to save lives, and aid those fighting the battle.

The campaign has so far proved to be an efficient way to create awareness, particularly in the era of being trendy and of following the hashtags. However, as the treatment of the disease continues to be either very costly or is out of the reach of the patients, the campaign has barely succeeded in touching the tip of the iceberg.