Manu Gupta is 28 years old and has buccal mucosa cancer. He has two infant children, a daughter and a son. He’s lucky to have an affectionate, caring wife, whose frame of mind is highly positive and she takes care of him with respect and kindness.

Manu and his wife are both illiterate. Manu made a living by selling Kachories on his cycle prior to being diagnosed with cancer. After his cancer treatment started, he wasn’t able to work anymore. Soon enough, all his savings dried out in meeting the family’s daily expenses and Manu had to sell his bicycle to raise some money for his family to survive for a few more days. His cancer was diagnosed at an advanced stage, so the hospital recommended palliative care at home and referred him to CanSupport.

When the home care team from CanSupport reached him, his physical condition was not stable at all. On top of that, he had run out of all money and did not have a single rupee left to run his house. On learning about the family’s financial situation, the team decided to urgently provide ration support to the family. The fact that the family at least had food to eat was a great relief to Manu.

The team doctor further supported Manu with morphine and other medication to manage his suffering. With the pain under control, Manu now feels much better. The team nurse also taught his wife how to do the dressing that was of great benefit to her.

Even though Manu was thankful to the palliative care team from CanSupport for providing his family with ration, he was highly emotional about being in a position where he felt powerless in providing for his family. While sharing this with the team counsellor, he burst into tears. The counsellor listened to him empathetically, counselled him, and provided him emotional support. Regular counselling sessions and dialogue with the counsellor helped relax his mind and emotions.

Manu is in a better state of mind, knowing that his family has food to eat and that, along with the anguish of his sickness, he doesn’t have to witness his family starve.

The home care team goes on to look after him in his house and to manage his physical symptoms as well as give him and his wife emotional support through proper counselling sessions.