The Day – 20th July, 2014 witnessed the first ever Regional Cancer Meet, by FOM at Ranchi.
The Day started with the blessings of God Indra (God of rains). The light shower made the atmosphere so pleasant that the whole meet seemed to be a picnic. People from neighbouring districts of Ranchi, started arriving as early as 8 am. Breakfast and refreshments were arranged for the early comers. Soon enough the registration counter was crowded all started forming queues. T-shirt and kit bags were distributed to all. Soon enough the hall was filled to a capacity of 200 plus.The day’s program commenced at 10 am with a welcome speech by FOM champion of Ranchi, Rishi Ajatshatru. In spite of having a very busy schedule on Sunday Ex- C.M. of Jharkhand, Sri Babu Lal Marandi managed to spare some time for the meet. He inaugurated the function by lighting the lamp and gave a nice encouraging speech to all the patients and their caregivers.
Then it was our Amma’s turn to speak, who took the crowd through the presentation talking about the Novartis, Friends of Max and The Max Foundation.
Rishi who is also a yoga guru had an informative session on healthy and stress-free living. All the audiences loved the way he conducted the session and learnt a lot.
The Mayor of Ranchi too came and shared her views.
This was followed by the much awaited Q & A session – Queries from the most common ones pertaining to side-effects, to the most significant issues related to PCR testing, marriage and pregnancy were addressed to Dr. Anup of RIMS, who very gently answered all the queries, bringing satisfactory smile on patients’ faces.
It was then lunch time. Under the open sky the crowd relished the food served. Most of us were busy with our cameras as the environment was just magnificent.
After lunch, Patients and FOM members enacted a small skit on compliance, stressing the need for daily medication without fail, keeping up with doctor’s appointments, and the importance of PCR testing. Everyone enjoyed that lovely session.
The meeting concluded with acknowledgments to the efforts of the organizer’s and a filling of feedback forms of The Max Foundation.
Amongst the organizers were the core group of the FOM Ranchi City Chapter comprising of Rishi Ajatshatru along with his supporting friends. They were just remarkable. FOM from Patna chapter and Kolkata Chapter were too present with their helping hands to make the event a great success. Above all energy of Amma was unmatchable.
By-
FOM Patna, Prashant