If one does get cancer, it is important to share the problem with others and not recede into a shell. "Recovery is always slow if you are on your own. I was going to school everyday during the course of my treatment. My colleagues' encouraging remarks like 'You are looking very smart with that scarf', would boost my morale. If I had kept sulking at home or avoided going out, things would have been worse. The feel good factor helps a lot".
Cancer not only affects ones physical health, it also affects the thinking process. One starts valuing life, family and friends, and stops begrudging what one does not have. It makes fighters like Nita realise that things could have been worse and that she was lucky. She sure was lucky through her grit and determination.
Three cheers for all those women (and men) who have survived daunting odds. They are there because they could!
Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
(Shobha Shukla is CNS Managing Editor and thematic lead on gender and health justice at Citizen News Service. She has taught physics at India's prestigious Loreto Convent for over three decades. Follow her on Twitter @Shobha1Shukla or visit: www.citizen-news.org)
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