Help Us Beat Cancer
Dr. Liaquat Roopesh Johnson (MBBS Batch of 1999, MD Batch of 2008) made a commitment to run 100 miles (161km) in memory of his MBBS batchmate, Sibhi Ganapathy who sadly passed away from pancreatic cancer in November 2023. Through this run on 17-18 February 2024, he is raising funds for poor and deserving patients in Vellore who need treatment for cancer.
Dr. Roopesh says, “My sincere thanks to everyone who has supported this cause 
. This weekend I honoured my commitment by running 161 km at the Jarakabande Eco Ultra in 26:25 hours. Unexpectedly, I won the event. I have kept my word. Now it’s your turn. Help raise funds for poor and deserving cancer patients at CMC Vellore.”
Donate and support this noble cause.
Thousands of people come to CMC seeking treatment for Cancer.
Many of them will continue to live healthy, happy lives for many years to come – thanks to the Expert Care given here at CMC.
You can help cancer patients just like Dhruv, A cancer survivour who would like to help others who cannot afford their treatment for cancer. (read his story here) We want to raise funds for patients who have cancer but can’t afford treatment.
Baby Vishal’s 1000km bike ride
Baby Vishal* is the joy of his parents. The family migrated for employment from their village in Tamil Nadu to a city near Mumbai. Early this year, baby Vishal fell sick with fever, diarrhea and vomiting. A local clinic couldn’t help him. So they went to a big hospital in Mumbai and doctors gave them shocking news – it was blood cancer.
“I was shattered, our little innocent child has cancer”
wept his father.
The number of corona patients in Mumbai was rising, and they had no income. So the family decided to travel home for Vishal’s treatment. But with the lockdown, there were no trains or buses.
“We did not have money for an ambulance. So, we came back by motorbike. We didn’t care if we died on the way, we wanted the best treatment for our child”.
said his mother holding back her tears.
The three of them set out on the long journey. At night the family slept alongside the highway. And they survived on soaked rice and salt. They were exhausted when they reached home but were advised to go straight to Vellore.
CMC Care for Vishal
The caring Paediatric Oncology team was there to welcome Vishal. An immediate grant of Rs.1 lakh was given from CMC’s Emergency Fund so they could begin chemotherapy immediately. But his treatment over the next three years will cost about ₹7 lakhs.
Story contributed by Child Health. *Names changed
You can read other stories about patients with cancer here
How we Care for Cancer Patients
When you hear the word “CANCER”, your heart sinks. It is a diagnosis most of us dread. But we can cure cancer. Here are some of the treatments that CMC uses to care for cancer patients.
Surgery
Surgery is used for many types of cancer. Raji Amma had colorectal cancer, a malignant tumour in the large bowel. This kind of cancer often needs surgery to cut out the cancer cells.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in India. An operation may be done to cut out just the cancer lump (called a lumpectomy) but sometimes the whole breast has to be removed (mastectomy).
These cancer operations are usually done by specialists. CMC has many specialist surgery departments.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy, or radiation therapy, uses special radiation machines to give high dose Xrays to kill cancer cells. These give a much higher dose than ordinary Xray machines.
CMC has several advanced radiation machines. These focus the radiation on the cancer cells and cause less damage to healthy cells near the tumour. The patient gets less side effects.
Patients usually have radiotherapy a few times a week for several weeks. Radiotherapy may also be given before or after surgery. Some people do not need radiotherapy at all.
The team plans the treatment in detail to make sure the radiation hits the exact spot where the cancer cells are. We train technicians to help with this work. See here for information on admission to the BSc. Radiotherapy Technology and other courses at CMC.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses strong medicines to kill the cancer cells. Sometimes the patient takes tablets. But often the medicines are given by an “intravenous infusion“. The chemotherapy drug is “dripped’ or infused through a tube into the vein.
Chemotherapy can reach all the cells in the body. This is why it can make people feel quite unwell. Common side effects are nausea, vomiting, weight loss and some people lose their hair.
These side effects may be horrible. But the treatment can save lives.
Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Transplant
CMC also has a dedicated unit for stem cell treatment and bone marrow transplants. These transplants are used to cure blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.
Home of a Healing God
This lovely video about CMC Vellore, from about 2009, has a section about bone marrow transplants. The numbers of patients and costs are out of date, but the video still has useful information in it.
Home of a Healing God: Christian Medical College Vellore. The section on bone marrow transplates starts at 1 min 50 seconds (1:50).
Read more about Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Transplant here
Palliative Care
Sadly, there are times when we cannot cure the cancer. Some people lose the battle and will die. Our aim is then to help the patient feel as comfortable as possible. Treatments, including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, can still make a big difference. Pain relief and taking care of other side effects like nausea are vital. CMC has a Palliative Care Department to care for people and their families when there is no cure.
Words used in Cancer Treatment
Here is a link to some helpful videos that explain the words used in cancer treatment. The videos show the meaning of words like cancer, chemotherapy, infusion etc. Each video is less than one minute long.
Click to see videos on words used in Cancer treatment
Cancer Care and Cure: Training Healthcare Professionals
A large number of people can be a part of the team looking after someone with cancer. Some of the professionals include doctors, nurses, radiation therapy technicians, radiology technicians, physiotherapists, and more. We have undergraduate training for these professionals and postgraduate training for some of these specialties. You can download the CMC Vellore student prospectus below.
