Rajeshwari Kaul was 78 years old when she was diagnosed with cancer of the breast with metastasis. She was from Uttar Pradesh and was a teacher by profession. She had lost her father at a very young age and had to start working early in life to support her family, that included her seven siblings - three sisters and three brothers.

As time went by, she continued to support her family and got her siblings married off one by one. Luckily, she got an opportunity to work as a teacher in a school, which meant a steady job and income. It was then that she thought of getting married and settling down. Soon she was blessed with a daughter. However, unfortunately, she lost her husband when her daughter was just 14 months old. This was most painful for Rajeswari, who had lived a life full of struggles right from her childhood. It was very hard for her to come to terms with this turn of events. But she summoned up enough courage to move on in life. Braving every storm, she raised her daughter and married her off when the daughter turned 21.

It was when Rajeswari had retired from her job that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was informed by her oncologist that cancer had spread beyond cure. Upon learning the prognosis, Rajeshwari decided that instead of living alone, she would like to spend her remaining life with her daughter and her family and she moved in with her daughter in Delhi so that she could be around her family and loved ones for the remaining part of her life. Luckily for Rajeshwari, her son in law was very welcoming of her decision and Rajeshwari was happy to have the support of both her daughter and her husband. Her daughter and son in law are both working in private organisations.

One of Rajeswari’s son in law’s colleagues’ mother had been a home care patient of CanSupport. He shared with him about CanSupport and its free of charge home care services. Soon, Rajeshwari was enrolled as a home care patient with CanSupport.

The home care team from CanSupport were very happy to meet Rajeshwari, her daughter and son in law. There was so much harmony and togetherness between all three of them. In the absence of Rajeshwari’s daughter and her husband when they were away at work, the team would visit Rajeshwari regularly and manage her symptoms at home. Rajeshwari was also happy with the support she was getting from the team. Not only could she talk and share her concerns and challenges with the team, she got all the medication support she required. The team nurse taught her meditation and breathing exercises, along with some yoga postures. All this helped her remain positive and calm.

Rajeshwari was very happy whenever the team visited her. She enjoyed talking to the team counsellor and shared with him her thoughts and past experiences. Sharing and talking helped her greatly.

Rajeshwari’s daughter and son in law were also very happy that a multidisciplinary team was taking care of her at home. The team nurse also trained Rajeshwari’s daughter and son in law in managing her symptoms at home and by prescribing medication to handle all symptoms.

Rajeshwari lived through 2021 in comfort with the support of the palliative care team from CanSupport. However, as her disease progressed in March 2022, she started to develop new symptoms. This worried her daughter. The daughter would discuss and share all her worries with the team. Gradually, Rajeshwari started to become more and more immobile. The daughter wanted to take her mother to her home town for a visit but the mother was not in a position to travel anymore. Rajeshwari had become much weaker. Rajeshwari’s son in law thought of admitting her in a hospital thinking that in the hospital she would be well taken care of but the hospital refused to admit her since they had no curative treatment to offer her. The hospital advised the family to keep Rajeshwari at home since she had a few more days or months to live.

The home care team from CanSupport continued to support Rajeshwari. The team also counselled the family in accepting the fact that the end was near and Rajeswari could go any day now. A few weeks later, Rajeshwari left for her heavenly abode peacefully.

Rajeshwari’s daughter invited the home care team to join in for her mother’s last journey since the team had supported her mother for almost more than a year and a half when both she and her husband couldn’t spend much time with her due to their jobs.

The family is so grateful to CanSupport for such tremendous love and compassion and support shown by them to their mother and expressed their gratitude with folded hands. “You came to us as angels from heaven in our time of need.” said Rajeshwari’s daughter.