Savita was 58 and was diagnosed with cancer of the Cervix in 2013. She was from Bihar and was living in Mamura village in Noida. Both her children, a son and a daughter, are married and settled. Her husband works in a factory and her son is employed in a call centre.

Soon after it was diagnosed in 2013, Savita started her cancer treatment. Owing to her treatment, her condition stabilized, and she recovered from cancer. However, in the year 2021, she again started experiencing pain and discomfort. On getting herself checked, she learnt that the cancer had recurred.

Upon learning about CanSupport and its free of charge Palliative Care services for cancer patients, Savita called CanSupport’s telephone helpline.

Our Palliative Home Care team first visited Savita in April 2022 when she was in severe pain. Sadly enough, even though Savita’s caregiver had pain medication at home, he didn’t know what medication to give to her as he had no knowledge about medicines. As a result, she continued to suffer in pain. The team doctor answered all queries of her husband who was also her primary caregiver and gave medication for symptom control with proper information and guidance to him.

The team nurse addressed all of Savita’s physical symptoms. The home care team learnt from the family that Savita knew about her diagnosis but was unaware of the prognosis. She was also living in hope of recovery. Since Savita’s condition was not good, the team regularly visited her to manage all her symptoms.

As expected, after a couple of months, Savita’s physical condition started to deteriorate, and her family started to panic. They asked the team to do whatever they could to help Savita’s condition improve. They were hoping for some miracle to happen and were in a state of denial.

The team counsellor helped the family understand and accept the prognosis. It was not only important for the family to accept the prognosis, but for them to share it with Savita as well. Savita’s husband broke down and asked the team to break the bad news to Savita. The team counsellor, respecting Savita’s husband’s emotions, agreed to do so. He shared and helped Savita understand and develop acceptance of her prognosis. He continued to counsel her over many sessions.

The counsellor also helped Savita’s son accept the prognosis, who was all along hoping for her recovery.

The team advised the family to try to fulfil all of Savita’s last wishes since she didn’t have long to live. They also suggested inviting Savita’s daughter so that she could spend time with her mother. By then, due to weakness, Savita couldn’t speak at all and only expressed herself using hand gestures.

Savita’s daughter, her husband and children came to spend a few days with Savita, which made Savita really happy. Though Savita wasn’t able to speak and had stopped eating food, she was happy to have her daughter around. However, on the last day of her life, she spoke a few words and asked the family to put henna on her hands and red color on her feet, as per the tradition of her native place, Bihar. She also asked for some sweets to eat.

The family did everything to fulfil all her wishes. Just before her last breath she called on her son to pray for her for her smooth departure. At first, the son refused and got emotional but when encouraged by the family, he decided to fulfil his mother’s wish and started to pray at the altar in the house. As soon as he finished praying, his mother took her last breath and passed away peacefully.

The family, especially Savita’s husband, expressed their gratitude to CanSupport for supporting Savita and her family through this difficult journey.