Breast Cancer Awareness Month - Dedicated to our Advocates...
Your inspiring life provides strength to others fighting cancer! Our advocates are our stars, our pillars!
DURGA GOPAL - Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer Conqueror - Inspiration To Mankind..
Durga Gopal's journey..in her own words..
Cancer!! The very name sends a chill down the spine of any individual.
Somebody has termed it as The Emperor of Catostrophies. Because once it knocks your door there is no guarantee that it won’t come back again as it happened in my case.
I was a bank employee stationed in Delhi with two lovely children. I lost my husband in the year 2000. From then on my life Struggle was all alone. My daughter got married and settled down in Berlin and me and my son settled down to a comfortable life in Delhi.
Towards the end of the year 2010 the first blow came. I was detected with Breast Cancer stage 1. It was devastating no doubt, but slowly I came back to terms with life and started enjoying life though the sword of Cancer was always on my head.At the end of 5 years the medicines were stopped and I was declared a Cancer free patient.
But Fate had other plans. Came November 2017 and this time the Cancer came back with a Bang. Breast Cancer stage 4...Metastatic..as the Cancer had spread from the breast to the lungs. So I shifted bag and baggage to Hyderabad to solicit the help of my brother who was stationed in Hyderabad and promised to take care of me. My son was married by that time and was working in US. So both my children were abroad and I had to carry on my struggle all alone. Ofcourse my daughter, son and daughter in law were always there to help. When I initially shifted to Hyderabad my daughter was there with me for a month and then my daughter in law took over and was there with me for nearly 5 months until I finished my chemotherapy I keep thanking God that I have such wonderful children and an exemplary daughter in law.
My treatment at Hyderabad was exorbitantly expensive. I had to shell down about Rs.350000/- every three weeks and to meet these expenses I had to sell my house at Delhi.Problems are given by HIM but HE himself shows the solutions. Only you have to have that irrevocable trust and faith in HIM. Once Cancer made my body its abode for the second time I had Hobson’s choice. I knew with my previous years experience, there was no use crying. There was no use questioning HIM as to why HE has inflicted this disease for a second time on my body. HE does not answer. So I did the next best thing to do. I accepted HIS Judgement. From that day onwards I fought this disease with a smile. Within 2 months my lungs were clear and after five months my breast was also clear. To the doctors surprise they did not even find the mother tumor after 6 months. To be on the safe side they removed my breast. However they warned me that this Cancer will come back. As per statistics 18 months is the standard period for Cancer to remain at bay. Now it is more than 18 months and so I am on my bonus period. We are all destined to die one day or other. So whatever time is left in our mantle why not we spend it laughing and smiling instead of frowning and cursing our fate. I want to spend the rest of my life( whatever little is left of it) with a positive attitude taking each day as it comes, living for today, not worrying about the morrow.
Cancer is not the end of life. All Cancers upto stage 3 are curable and if you are lucky and vigilant it may not come back again.When people like me , for whom the death sentence has already been written, can continue to live with a smile , then why can’t you? It is not important how many years you live. It is important as to how well you live your life in the given span that God has marked for you and how you can make the best use of HIS gifts that HE has endowed you with.
This is my advice to all Cancer patients. Life is Beautiful. Only you should have the Eyes to see it. Inspite of giving this ailment HE has given you a lot of priceless gifts. Appreciate them and draw your strength from them.Cancer has widened my perspective. I am able to perceive everything in a positive way. Also for the past one and half years I have been flooded with so much love and affection from all quarters, be it my children, my brother , my relatives or my friends. Today I think I am the richest person in this world as far as love and affection are concerned and so I think I am a Blessed Soul.
I am trying to help other Cancer patients by counseling them and trying to instill confidence and hope to fight this dreadful disease. The life span of Cancer patients Is much longer today with the advent of new medicines every day and you can make it even longer with your courage and with an attitude to never give up.
I have written a book “ My Rendezvous With Cancer “ giving an account of my experiences , my trauma, my agony while encountering this disease and at the same time how to deal with it and conquer the disease. I have received lot of good reviews for the book and a few have said that they have come out of their depression after reading the book. So the purpose of my book is achieved.
For anybody who wants to read my book, please ring me up on my India No. +919773913341
To all Cancer patients.. Don’t lose hope. Fight out this disease with grit and determination and in the end you will emerge a winner.
By
Durga Gopal
https://www.breastcancerhub.org/heroes-blog/durga-gopal-tnfd-ttm8e-ef939-xwgcp
