It was a celebration of the joy of being children, pure and simple. The message from the celebration was brief and clear: Life is too short to be spent sorrowing. And, they danced and sang, played games, untroubled by a past that looked really life-threatening.
The occasion was ‘Kailkoottam’, the annual get-together of children who have successfully fought off cancer. The event was organised in a city hotel under the aegis of the Cochin Cancer Society.
The hall where the event took place was packed to capacity, a large number of people making a ring around the stage where the little ones came up to either sing or to relate their experiences. The father of one of them recounted how his family spent many a despairing day after doctors virtually medically wrote off his daughter. “I never believed in prayers,” he said about the near miraculous remedy that was provided by a city-based doctor.
The young girl is back on her feet and was on the stage on Sunday with her father, blithe as a child should be.
Song and dance sessions added colour to the gathering as happy parents cheered the little ones, who took to the stage, some of them insisting that they would not leave without singing a song. The get-together was also an occasion to send out the message that all is not lost in the fight against cancer. The organisers of the show also flagged off a mobile mammogram facility on the occasion.
