Samara Mahindra did not imagine she would be involved with anything related to cancer. Being more into lifestyle and holistic health, she trained in all kinds of diet and fitness certified courses and was “living a carefree” life till her mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2004.
“She had cervical cancer. Our lives suddenly changed. We encountered problems. Though she went through some of the best treatments for years in the UK, we struggled with post-treatment care. I was plagued with questions such as, What can we feed her? Can she exercise? How can we handle her stress and emotions? We were not given any specific instructions from the hospital and were at a loss. We felt helpless as we watched her suffer,” recalls Samara.
To the family’s horror, her mother had a relapse within six months of the treatment. “That was when I decided to revamp her diet and lifestyle. It was more about keeping things in balance rather than going to extremes,” says Samara, adding that she noticed the post-care treatment she devised for her mother was working, defying the six-month life sentence by the doctors for six years. “We lost her in 2010. I was in the US at that time and decided to get involved in R & D about post care, integrative movements, nutrition and holistic health therapy for those suffering from cancer.”
She moved base to Bengaluru and started working with Tata Memorial and Kidwai. “My role was of an observer. What I saw was after the treatment, patients were left with the question of ‘now what?’”.
That is when Samara decided to launch an online portal CARER (Cancer Recovery and Rehabilitation – an integrative approach to healing), which offers a consolidated therapy and programme. “The aim is to provide them weeks of holistic health programmes to wean them from medical care into a healthier lifestyle. After intense medical care, if one goes back to an unhealthy lifestyle, there are more chances of a relapse.”
Samara explains that there are eight specialities in various fields that share and guide the patients through their journey to recovery. “We have users in the UK and US beside India. It is also a synergised offline and online care. Many don’t like to leave their homes after their medical care. So we have created various videos that are uploaded and most of it is self-explanatory.”
There are five levels to healing programmes – each comprises nutrition, yoga, meditation and a counselling segment. A patient reaches level five in 12 weeks. The programme is for those undergoing treatment as well as six months of their treatment, Samara says. “The portal offers a range of recipes and resources for patients to make soups and meals, loaded with natural boosters and nutrition.”
For offline care, Samara says there is an in-house programme for caregivers. The challenge, she says, is overcoming the loss of a loved one to cancer. “There was anger that this segment is so ignored. They don’t want to talk about it, not realising that talking itself starts the healing process. A sibling or a spouse cannot help as they are emotionally involved. We were educated fools as we did not look up for other resources, but became too dependent on doctors and hospitals. People should start fighting cancer and not look at it as a death sentence, no matter how scary it may seem.” To contact volunteers visit www.live.carerprogram.com.
