Having lost her husband almost 3 decades ago, my mother had lead a very difficult life. She worked very hard to make ends meet and raise the 3 of us – to make us what we are today. Just as we started to reap the fruits of her hard work & perseverance, we realized the happiness was short lived. In November 2017, she was detected with stage 4 metastatic lung cancer.
I wondered how devastating it would be for her to know about this, especially for a lady who had never been admitted to a hospital all her life. But when we broke the news to her, she was calm & composed as usual. It was only once that in a burst of emotions, she cried for a while asking “what is the point in living with this disease when we know the end result?” I tried to calm her down saying “now that we know that we may have limited time together, we should enjoy it to the fullest & try to be happy all the time”.
She gracefully accepted what had happened, considering it to be her karma & decided to live with it. I am sure she knew very well that our strength lied in her being strong. She would always have a smile on her face, so charming that no one could ever imagine the pain she may be going through. She never let the disease come in between her & her belief in God. She would diligently go to the temple daily as she used to do earlier, spending a couple of hours in a positive & divine environment. We used to go out for weekend outings & movies once in a while to spend quality time with her outdoors.
One and a half years passed by very smoothly as if nothing had happened (with of course full support & guidance from our doctors). But as the cancer had got detected in a very advanced stage, things started getting difficult as time passed, making the oral medicines ineffective. So, the next line of treatment (Chemotherapy) had to be started.
Mummy had a long drawn wish to take the entire family together for a visit to Shikharji (one of the most important Jain pilgrimages). Hence, we decided to go for the Shikharji yatra before Chemotherapy started. By the grace of the almighty, Mummy completed the yatra without any hurdles with our entire family together. It was by far the best trip that we ever went for.
After coming back Mummy went for the Chemotherapy treatment with a new zeal & a sense of fulfillment. The Chemo sessions went well for 2-3 months (with some side effects though, which she handled very patiently); Size of the tumors also reduced. But then some new cells were detected in the brain for which we had to go for Radiation therapy. She completed the radiation treatment also with a positive mindset.
Before her next Chemo session, she supported me very enthusiastically for Daslakshan vrat – 10 days fast in Paryushan (most important festival for Jains) & happily participated in all the ceremonies & functions. This would not have been possible without her love, motivation & blessings. A couple of weeks later she got an epilepsy attack leaving the left side of her body completely paralyzed. Even during the 2 months of being bed ridden, she happily took part in the Diwali pooja, our birthdays / anniversaries; all with the usual smile on her face.
After fighting very bravely for 2 years, she peacefully took her last breath & left for her heavenly abode on 29th November 2019.
With her positive attitude, patience, strong will power & firm belief in almighty, I am sure she would have defeated Cancer, had it been diagnosed at an earlier stage.