Savitri Devi is 62 years old and has breast cancer. Her husband is a retired police head constable from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. She has two sons who are both married. Along with her husband, she moved from Meerut to Delhi, NCR (Greater Noida) in 2019 to her elder son’s house for cancer treatment.

Savitri’s treatment in a government hospital had to be discontinued due to the pandemic lockdown. The Out Patient Department (OPD) of the hospital had shut down and the doctor told her that as her disease had advanced, all they could recommend was pain management. The hospital referred her to CanSupport for palliative care and symptom management in her own home.

The CanSupport helpline department referred Savitri to the home care team in September 2020. The team immediately put her on the priority list, as she needed morphine for pain control.

Upon meeting Savitri, the team gathered that despite knowing about her prognosis, she was hoping for an improvement in her health. The home care team (Doctor, Nurse and Counsellor), not only talked and listened to Savitri but engaged in dialogue with the entire family.

Savitri was experiencing a lot of pain so the team frequently visited her at her home. To empower her to deal with the pain and sickness, the team counsellor taught her some breathing exercises and meditation techniques.

Regular visits and dialogues with Savitri and her family helped create a wonderful rapport to the extent that the family started seeking guidance from the team members on every small issue bothering them. Though Savitri’s sickness had progressed beyond any cure, the visits by the team stabilised her both physically and mentally.

Savitri started discussing her anxieties and became more comfortable about sharing her symptoms and worries with the team. Even though physically she was getting weaker but both she and the family had complete faith and trust in the team and expressed their confidence that the team would help them with their many challenges.

Savitri had difficulty in sitting up so the team provided her a backrest to make her more comfortable.The team trained the caregivers on how to look after Savitri with respect and dignity. Her daughter- in-law and grandchildren also collaborated with the team and were encouraged and trained to take proactive steps. The team has been able to help Savitri and her family resolve many issues at home. Since September 2020 the family hasn’t felt the need to call on any hospital.

Savitri is aware of the prognosis of her sickness and the team counselled and comforted her so she could come to an acceptance of that fact. The team has also supported the family to come to terms with the eventuality.

Savitri and her family are very appreciative of CanSupport and the support they have received from them in their difficult time. Savitri’s husband said that if he offered his wife some food to eat, she would refuse it but if the team offered her the food, she would happily eat it.

The team started visiting Savitri more frequently as she started to develop more symptoms with the advancement of her cancer and became bed ridden.

When Savitri’s daughter-in-law gave birth to a baby boy, Savitri wanted to play with her new born grandson. The team encouraged her to start doing some light exercises to gain strength.

The desire to play with and spend time with her new born grandson made Savitri eager to become more active and she was miraculously able to sit and walk. On their next visit the team could see a marked difference in her.

Her son thanked the team with folded hands and expressed his gratitude by saying, “This world is full of deceit and selfish people, but selfless people like you are precious and God sent.”

We at CanSupport are happy to see Savitri spend her remaining days happily playing with her grandson and surrounded and supported by her entire family.