Cancer need not be feared

BANGALORE: Cancer is a dreadful disease but human mentality is what differentiates between a cancer patient and a cancer survivor. HealthCare Global Foundation, a specialist in cancer care, organised a play  titled The Bend In The Road, recently at The Lalit Ashok. The play was scripted and enacted by cancer survivors. The play carried an important message through five different people, an optimist, a pessimist, a person who fears death, a happy go lucky lad and a cancer winner. It conveyed the message of setting one’s mind on how to react towards cancer. The different characters meet each other at the doctor’s clinic who shares their views on how they were affected by cancer and how their families reacted towards them. The conversation had brought up various topics such as breast cancer, lung cancer and blood cancer. The play convinced the crowd that if you live in fear there is nothing you can do, and in fact that will aggrandise your sickness. If one has to fight cancer, then the only armour they have is their positive attitude. The five different views added the element of humour but at the end of the play everyone walked away with true knowledge and scope for change in attitude towards cancer patients. However the play also brought out points including healthy diet, regular check ups and fitness regimes that can be of huge help. Just because you are a sufferer,  it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t live a full life. The play was filled with lines such as Don’t live your life for your future have fun now before it’s too late. There was another dialogue that described the whole play in just two lines — Cancer isn’t the end of the road, but it is just a bend in the road. The play was planned in such a way, that it would bring about a change in the society for cancer sufferers and attitude of people towards cancer patients.