KOCHI: “Enough, enough. I’m overwhelmed by the love and affection you have showered on me. Rs 50 lakh in 12 hours! I requested your help as all our resources had dried up. I promise to help people in need with the balance amount after completing my treatment. Kerala was not just helping me. You have grown as a motherly figure to me,” Nandu Mahadeva, an amputee and a cancer patient wrote in an emotional Facebook post on Tuesday.
Nandu is not just another cancer patient seeking help for treatment. He has lived through the agonies of a critically-ill and lit a candle of hope for hundreds who share the plight. He has formed a Facebook collective of seriously ill patients and charity workers to extend emotional and financial help to such people.
Nandu, 26, had completed his degree course and was running a catering unit at Kazhakkoottam in Thiruvananthapuram when he was diagnosed with bone cancer four years ago. Though his leg was amputated during treatment at RCC in 2018, the infection spread to his lungs complicating his health.“When I realised that I’m fighting a deadly disease, I thought about other critically ill patients who fight the disease without knowing about the disease.
When I got in touch with them, I understood their financial woes. That’s when I decided to form Athijeevanam, a collective for such patients. We arranged help for many people and now myself have received showers of love,” Nandu told TNIE.
‘I decided to face adversity smiling’
Nandu’s family had to shut down their catering unit before moving to MVR Cancer Centre in Kozhikode. The family had run out of resources which prompted the youth to seek help from his Facebook friends.
“I’ll never forget that journey from Thiruvananthapuram to Kozhikode. My right hand was paralysed and vision in my right eye was fading. I was struggling to swallow food as the tumour had blocked my throat partially. The doctors said that I will not survive for more than a month. But I never lost confidence. I decided to face adversity with a smile. And it has been months now. I’m returning to a normal life,” Nandu wrote in his social media page in July. However, cancer remains persistent even while Nandu refuses to give up