With three grown up married sons, three daughters-in-law and six grandchildren, Rama Devi has a large family and they all live together in a small house in Mangolpuri.

All of Rama’s three sons are good-for-nothing. They on and off look for some work on daily wages and splurge all the money on eating and drinking alcohol. Their wives work hard at home doing house chores, looking after their respective children and on top of that they try to earn some money by running small errands for a flower seller or for some shops near their house.

The three daughters-in-law together manage to bring in just about enough money to feed the entire family.

Rama is 62 and was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2018 after she experienced pain and spotted a lump on her chest. She had already lost her husband, a heart patient a few years prior.

Post her cancer diagnosis towards the end of 2018, her treatment started at Safdarjung Hospital. She had to be operated upon and her right breast was removed.

Around the end of last year (2020), Rama Devi developed a wound on her chest. She went back to Safdarjung Hospital, where she was advised to undergo 18 cycles of chemotherapy. In January this year the hospital referred her to CanSupport for Palliative care. Her chemotherapy is still continuing.

When the home care team from CanSupport visited Rama Devi the very first time in January this year, they got to know that fortunately for her, her house is walking distance from Sanjay Gandhi hospital, so she is able to walk down to the hospital and regularly get her dressing done. Her daughters-in-law are very supportive and one of them accompanies her to the hospital every time she goes.

During their first introductory visit, the home care team from CanSupport got acquainted with the family and met everyone at home. The team nurse changed the dressing on her wound and tried to build rapport with the family. The family was very welcoming. The daughters-in-law showed a lot of appreciation for the visit and offer to support Rama Devi with medication and symptom control free of charge.

On their second visit, the team found Rama Devi crying and she just wouldn’t stop crying. The team counsellor asked what was disturbing her. She didn’t reply, but continued to weep. The counsellor tried to inquire from the grandchildren, but they also said they did not know the reason for her crying. The team assured Rama Devi that they would try to help her with whatever was plaguing her and eased her mind to share her worries.

Finally, she opened up and said, “I am getting weaker by the day. There isn’t enough food at home and I don’t want to burden or ask the family to give me more nutrients or nutritious food.” She said she felt guilty for asking her daughters in law to fulfil her food requirements because they worked so hard and she didn’t want to put extra pressure on them. She was concerned that due to lack of enough nutrients in her diet, she may die sooner.

The team counsellor encouraged her to keep a positive mind and think of recovering rather than dying. The team also assured her they would help her in the best possible way. On their next visit, the team provided her with dry ration that included pulses, sattu, rice and other items.

Rama was very delighted, and felt comforted that she had enough food of her own now and that she wouldn’t feel like a burden on her family anymore.

On their third visit, the team saw a huge transformation in Rama. From being bedridden to going to the hospital for change of dressing by herself, was an enormous leap of progress.

Rama shared that eating sattu had given her a great deal of physical strength and she no longer felt guilty for asking her daughters in law to cook for her whatever she wanted from her dry ration stock provided by CanSupport. She expressed her gratitude to the team with folded hands and said she had never expected that she would get so much dry ration and how secure that made her feel.

More than anything else, Rama got her pride and self-respect back. The home care team from CanSupport continues to visit her and is delighted to see the progress that she is making both physically, mentally and emotionally.