Sunday, August 25, 2002		Books

The Joy of Cancer
by Anup Kumar. Rupa. Pages 238. Rs. 195

PUBLISHER'S blurbs usually overstate. The one on the cover of this book reads, "Anyone whose life has been touched by cancer will find courage, wisdom and inspiration in this book." This claim understates the merits of Anup Kumar’s first-person account of his sudden plunge into the alien world of a cancer patient. It is an account told without sentimentality, neither preaching nor attempting to be profound. It records in detail a two-year-long battle against lung cancer that the author won despite the odds against him. "Your cancer has reached Stage Four, I’m afraid," a doctor tells Anup and his wife at the end of a series of tests. "How many stages are there?" my wife asked hesitantly. Dr Deshpande looked away as he answered. "Four," he said.

Given only a few months to live, and faced with the prospect of immediate chemotherapy, Anup Kumar’s world (like that of so many others) collapsed around him. Most of the book was written during treatment, "between bouts of nausea and all the other side effects of chemotherapy. It is largely based on my own experiences but also on conversations with other cancer patients and their families. The main part enumerates a seven-point battle plan that saw me through the worst days of my life. I am hoping it will see you through the worst days of yours."

But the book is not merely addressed to fellow sufferers. It is addressed to all of us, for each one of us has, surely, some friend or relative who has been diagnosed with the disease. And in any case, given the statistics, each one of us could become a patient at any time. The book, without becoming a statistical manual, is informative about the nature and attitude, modes of treatment, responses to treatment and the actual fight against a disease with a high mortality rate. But a rate not as high as we sometimes suppose. More and more people, the author tells us, are surviving cancer. Importantly, it brings a distinct humanism to the idea of being a cancer patient. Accepting that one has cancer, the author says, is the most important step in battling the disease. "Try thinking of cancer as an unwelcome guest. You might wish it would go away soon, but don’t slam the door in its face. It doesn’t work."

Anup accepted the presence of this unwelcome guest, but also noted the qualitative difference it made. "The air in the house improved considerably." He had always been a heavy smoker (consuming close to 500,000 cigarettes as an adult). Cancer made him quit. Being a patient brought him closer to his family members. "I began to look at life with a new perspective. My identity was no longer in my suit, my tie, and my polished shoes. I was free. It was a new life. It was different."

The battle plan, itself a combination of folk wisdom and pop psychology, its premises similar to the tips you find in self-help books, was nevertheless effective insofar as it gave the author a centre around which he could organise his confrontation with death. Who can argue with such life affirming optimism at such a time? If you are the disease, you are also the cure. The only resource a cancer patient has is his own, but he must harness both family and friends in the battle. The action plan, worthy of Tsun Zu, occupies the central chapters of the book. "Being an active participant in your health helps you understand your condition better. It builds on your internal resources to fight the disease. It helps you increase your belief in yourself. Belief that you can and will eventually win."

Meditation, yoga, an improved diet and Buddhist chanting were some of the means that the author used to steady himself during treatment. After trying several alternatives, he opts for standard allopathic medicine, but notes, "It is important to conduct a check on hospital costs and charges. Cancer is a rich man’s disease…Over a period of only six months, my treatment cost me approximately 12 lakhs." He tells his story without an ounce of self-pity, dispelling various received opinions. Contrary to popular perceptions (and fears), cancer is not, he assures us, as painful as sometimes made out to be, rather it is the despair and isolation that undermine the defenses of most and it is really oneself one must conquer.

Like a religious experience, the affliction with cancer transformed the author’s existence. He directed this transformation to make his life more meaningful than it had been. "Cancer has altered the way I look, react and feel to everything in my environment. I have been born again at the age of 50."

The book contains short and important chapters, which include advice to family and friends. Appendices on cancer treatment, side effects as well as a list of cancer societies and how they can help are vital components of this book.