NEERJA MALIK, 54, Chennai
Familiar with adversity — mother of twins after four miscarriages — 54 year-old Neerja Malik has defied breast cancer twice. In February 1998, she first felt a sharp pain in her left breast. Self-examination revealed a pea-sized lump. A home-maker and an aerobics enthusiast, she dismissed it as muscular strain but the twinge returned 10 days later. A mammogram and a fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) test at the Apollo Speciality Hospital in Chennai confirmed her fears. In less than a week, she was wheeled in for surgery, in Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai. A resident of Chennai, she chose Mumbai for treatment because her sister lived in the city and she didn’t want visitors after the surgery.
Discharged from the hospital, Malik headed straight to the nearest theatre to watch Titanic, following it up with 54 movies during the six months of treatment. Discovering that it was a good palliative, she went to any lengths to get tickets. Like persuading a theatre manager to give two tickets on the first day of Hindi film Ghulam’s release. “I told him I must see the film before my chemotherapy next day,” she says with a chuckle. “And that I would remove my wig for him to identify me!”
Malik decided to reach out to other cancer patients after her brush with cancer. She took up cancer support voluntarily at Apollo Hospital in Chennai and encouraged other survivors to get involved. “I started counselling and soon realised patients coming from other states faced problems with the local language,” she explains. Generous donations from relatives — many of them settled abroad — and friends enables Neerja to aid the treatment of the cancer patients. Funds are also spent to support children suffering from cancer.
In November 2004, Malik detected a lump in her right breast. Tests revealed cancer. Without any delay — her family from all over the world was coming together to celebrate the New Year — she came to Mumbai on pretext of visiting her sister. Deciding not to tell her children as their exams were on, she called them every morning. Three days after being discharged, she went to see a play. After the first chemotherapy, Malik was home in Chennai to participate in the family reunion.
In November 2004, Malik detected a lump in her right breast. Tests revealed cancer. Without any delay — her family from all over the world was coming together to celebrate the New Year — she came to Mumbai on pretext of visiting her sister. Deciding not to tell her children as their exams were on, she called them every morning. Three days after being discharged, she went to see a play. After the first chemotherapy, Malik was home in Chennai to participate in the family reunion.
Malik’s positive attitude is infectious and she uses it to motivate other cancer patients through her brainchild, the Apollo Cancer Support Group, which was launched in March 2004. She helps patients prepare for life after cancer and answers every query, such as coping with hair fall during chemotherapy and the best place to procure wigs. Although building a team was a challenge, she now has seven volunteers. Malik has also designed a leaflet that carries her own positive affirmations of faith in God. “If God has given me this problem, he will also give me the solution.”
— Swati Amar
