13 November 2015
Hyderabad
Apollo Cancer Hospital and & CURE Foundation, Hyderabad hosted a colourful Children's day celebration on the eve of Children’s Day at Apollo Cancer Hospital, Hyderabad, today. Child Cancer Survivors – ‘The Real Stars’ who courageously combated cancer and lead a normal life, celebrated this Children’s Day with Reel Star Rakul Preet Singh. Child Cancer Survivors sang and danced in gay abundance. These tiny stars, who went through an ordeal of lifetime, sent a strong message that cancer can be conquered and life is normal thereafter. Rakul Preet Singh felicitated the survivors on the occasion.
On the occasion Cancer survivor children in costumes of Chota Bhim look alike, presented a theme show, where in they defeated the cancer demon. The show strongly sent the message of cancer being conquerable, to the audience mostly comprising of children afflicted of cancer and their parents.
Speaking on the occasion Rakul Preet Singh said, these tiny cancer survivors are the real heroes and I wish to see them extremely successful in their lives. I also look forward for the day we can conquer this dreadful disease. In the recent years cancer treatment has made enormous advances and the best doctors, technology and hospitals are all available to treat cancer, therefore anyone with cancer patients and their relatives need not worry. Early detection can facilitate treatment of cancer with ease, she added. I am really moved to hear and see little kids being inflicted of cancer, but there is great hope as childhood cancers are curable. She advised the parents to ensure that kids develop healthy food habits at a young age to keep cancers at bay.
Speaking on the occasion Dr. P. Vijay Anand Reddy, Director, Apollo Cancer Hospital said, the dreadful Cancer doesn’t even spare Children. In India, around 45,000 new cases of Childhood Cancers are diagnosed every year. Childhood cancers constitute 4.5% of all Cancers in India (70 per 10,00,000 population). Dr. Reddy added that Children cope with Cancer treatment better than adults and recover much faster than adults. Most Cancers in Childhood are curable, in fact 80% of all childhood Cancers are curable and in contrast only 65% of adult cancers are curable, he pointed out. With today's performance these Angels are sending a strong message to the Society that Cancer can be fought by Children too! And also that they can lead a normal life after the great battle!
Child Cancer Survivors and their parents interacted and shared their experiences with the parents of Child Cancer patients. A parent whose child is undergoing treatment said, it sounded like a death knell when our son was pronounced as cancer afflicted, no amount of counselling from the doctors about he being cured gave us complete confidence. Look at these survivors, they are like normal kids, now I am convinced of my child being completely cured and going back to his academics, thank Apollo Cancer Hospital for creating this opportunity, he added.
Dr. S.V.S.S. Prasad, Sr. Consultant Medical Oncologist, briefed the gathering about the Symptoms of Childhood Cancers and when to approach the doctors.
