Anindita Chowdhury, Interview in bengali-English
Why Bengali Language? We want to reach out to women & men fighting cancer but do not understand any other language but Bengali- the inspirational journey will be of tremendous support & strength to the cancer patients & their families!
Interview with Anindita Chowdhury in Bengali, summarized in English,on June 28, 2019 in Hyderabad.. I was so amazed & proud to meet Mrs. Anindita Chowdhury, journalist by profession & BRCA1, HER2+ Breast Cancer Conqueror, diagnosed in November 2017 at 42 years, yet so composed & brave, faced cancer, with a beautiful smile. It was such a proud moment when Mrs. Chowdhury volunteered to be an advocate so that she can help other women & men sailing through cancer. Hats off to Mrs. Chowdhury and you are truly an inspiration to the mankind. Thank you Mrs. Ambili Santhosh for capturing our interview!
Please view & share Anindita’s interview- A huge learning experience for everyone…- https://youtu.be/hhvtccJ0J4
The Story..
Cancer is not my legacy
By Anindita Chowdhury
It was November, 2017. Hyderabad wore a festive look with freshly painted buildings and signs, all decked up for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit and quite contrary to my mood. I was sitting in a clinic right adjacent to the venue where Ivanka Trump was in attendance, devastated by the scan report and waiting to see a doctor. I had detected a soft lump in my left breast some months ago during self examination but it had disappeared in the next few days. Since my mother died of ovarian cancer 22 years ago the possibility of getting cancer was always at the back of my mind. Was it denial that made me think everything was fine till I woke up with pain in my armpit? My twelve-year old daughter was adamant that I should see a doctor because in school she had learnt in “Mom & Me” classes that it was one of the symptoms of breast cancer. The radiologist who did the biopsy said I had “bulky” breast and showed me on screen how the lump was moving away which made detection difficult.
So there I was, at the age of 42, reliving the trauma of my mother’s struggle with an aggressive form of cancer which killed her within a year. I had hoped to spare my daughter of such traumatic experience but the BRCA I test report indicated I not only carried the cancerous gene but might have passed it on to her. I think my guilt made me stronger and all the more resolved to fight the disease, so that the outcome was different this time. My husband too declined to treat me with kid-gloves and when the surgical oncologist wanted to confide in him, he told him to be candid with me because I was strong enough to hear what he had to say.
I turned out to be HER 2 positive. Apart from chemotherapy I required Herceptin, an expensive drug in India. One of the first things I did after the diagnosis was to avoid all WhatsApp groups, even block people when they started sending unsolicited advice, not backed by scientific knowledge, suggesting that I should consume coconut oil and avoid all kinds of sugar or chemotherapy was bad for health. I was determined to be strong and positive. Often I avoided calls even from my father because he tended to wear me down by referring to my mother’s case though I had told him that medicine has advanced sufficiently enough to be able to manage the side effects of chemotherapy. We also made sure our daughter was told the broader details of my case. We didn’t want her to google for every detail and end up with wrong notions.
Although my medical oncologist was competent and empathetic as was my family sometimes I felt it would have been better if I could exchange notes with somebody who underwent a similar experience. The absence of a support group made me realise its importance; I remember looking up the blogs of support groups attached to oncology units of hospitals in UK and US to research about diets since the medicines to prevent nausea due to chemotherapy, had their own side effects. The best advice came from one of the survivors who said: “ Hang in there! This too shall pass.”
I deliberately avoided asking myself “ Why did I get cancer?” because there was really no answer to it and my self-pity party would have resulted in only despondency. I made peace with my mortality.
There is always a chance that the cancer might come back and I worry about my daughter, she is still young. Then while collaborating with my oncologist to write a book of 25 true stories about cancer patients I came across the story of a young mother diagnosed with breast cancer, just two months after her baby was born. She wanted to be around till she could get her daughter toilet trained. It turned out to be an eye-opener. Nowadays, I just ensure that we make lots of good memories. And I want to be there for those who are going through the same ordeal, hold their hands as they fight cancer. Usually, I am reticent about opening up about cancer – people often look at you with pity but meeting Lopamudra changed my perspective. I think I have discovered my calling - spreading awareness among men and women about breast cancer.
By
Anindita Chowdhury
Interview with Anindita Chowdhury in Bengali (briefed in English), journalist by profession & BRCA1, HER2+ Breast Cancer Advocate on June 28, 2019 in Hyderabad.