Venu Kumar, a 34-year-old young adult came to Delhi with his wife with a hope to make a living. Venu worked as a salesman at a kirana shop, while his wife worked as a maid. Venu has two children, both of them are in school.

It was in July 2019, when Venu found out about his cancer. The news of him suffering with cancer wreaked havoc for the family. He went into depression since he had no idea how to deal with his condition.

To start, he began his treatment at Delhi State Cancer Institute (DSCI). While visiting the hospital for his chemo, he came in contact with CanSupport's community field officer. He spoke to the field officer, who explained to him about the work CanSupport is doing for cancer patients.

Few weeks gone by, Venu’s condition became worse, he was in pain and was suffering from high fever. While looking through his medical report, he came across CanSupport helpline number. His wife called the helpline and explained the helpline counselor about Venu' s condition.

After talking to Venu's wife, the helpline counselor refered his case to CanSupport Home Care Team, who visited him the next day. Upon their visit, they found Venu and his family, living in a small cramped one room rented house. Venu was lying in bed with severe pain, his wife shared, that sometimes the pain become so severe that even neighbors come rushing to their house.

After reviewing his case, the doctor gave him a dosage of morphine which gave Venu some relief on that day. The team decided to start palliative care for Venu as they found that the effects of chemo was not managed well.

The team started visiting him twice a week to check his condition. In one of the visits, Venu informed the team that the doctor is recommending him to get operated but he doesn’t have the required money for the operation. The concern of not having money to get operated was making Venu and his wife very tense.

The team counselor heard their story and assured them that they would try their best to get help for them. The team refereed Venu’s case to CanSupport social worker (A specialized person, who helps patients get benefits of various Govt. schemes).

The social worker after accessing Venu' s case, did all the paper work and managed to get funds for Venu's operation through one of the government schemes.

Now the team visits Venu once a week to check on his sickness and also support the family with medicine that can manage his symptoms. Though Venu’s sickness is progressing, the family is well aware about his prognosis. They are confident that in times of difficult situation they can reach out to CanSupport team for help.

They are many people like Venu who need palliative care but they don’t know where to go. While CanSupport is doing its best the reach out to people informing them about their services, we request you to spread the word. Share our Helpline Number 011-41010539 with to all the needy people.

Though all CanSupport services are free of charge for patients, the cost of reaching out to patients and caring for them cost Rs. 1300/- per visit per patient.

If you like to support our cause please donate at https://cansupport.org/donate/

For more information please visit www.cansupport.org

Patient names have been changed to protect their identity.