CHENNAI: As the sun glinted, it formed a glittery path on the water at Marina Beach. At the beachfront soaking in the sun were padded cyclists on their sports cycles, riders with their riding gears, and laced-up walkers. Hundreds of school and college students, corporate employees and rotarians wore pink caps, tracks, shoes and pinned pink ribbons on their t-shirts. They held banners that read ‘A sister, a friend, a mother, an aunt. A hope that starts with me.’
These participants spread messages about Breast Cancer by taking a 3.5 km walk around the Island Grounds. The walk emphasised early detection, prevention, and self-breast examination. The jointly organised walk ‘One Walk One Hope’ was conducted by CAN-STOP (Cancer Support Therapy to Overcome Pain), a community-based voluntary organisation, in association with Rotary District 3234. The New Indian Express was the media partner.
“When we work together as a group, the community grows larger. We want to instil information that gives every woman the power to decide what needs to be done,” shared Dr Vijaya Bharathi Rangaraja, founder of CAN-STOP. The said information is for people to understand that cancer is non-contagious and can be cured with early detection. “The fear linked with the disease should be removed which will come only with knowledge of what can be done,” she added.
According to Dr Vijaya, “Self-examination is the ideal knowledge to possess because each woman will know about her own body and when there is a change she can notice it.”