Thiruvananthapuram on Oct 19th 2014
8.00am:8th floor at the Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. Max Foundation leads, Amma, Vijaya, Beena along with core group of FOM Kerala chapter set up the floor with all the banners especially “ I am Maximo I am an advocate” along with the registration counter. The colors and the spirits from all the team members was a force to reckon with.
8.30am – 10.00am:
Participants started coming with their care givers and the registration counter lead by Vijaya, Jaya , Sherly and Mumtaz ensured that Registration process was flawless
This followed with the Thiruvananthapuram style of Vada with Tea being served for all and this combination of Vada/Tea set the spirits further soaring higher and higher.
Dr Geetha Narayanan arrived followed by Dr Shruthi and Dr Madhavan.
10.00 am:
Sangeetha, daughter of Param, Trustee of FOM, India chapter, set the tone by inviting all for the national anthem followed by welcome speech.
Beena welcomed the physicians and the gathering.
Dr Geetha Narayanan, gave a very good introduction of the stages of the disease and current methods of treatment. She appreciated the works of M/s Novartis and The Max Foundation for having taking the responsibility to serve a wide range of patients through this access program which not only has enhanced lives of all those who are diagnosed for CML/GIST but also has given confidence to the treating doctors on the first line of treatment with Glivec the Magic Bullet is very encouraging.
Following that Amma along with Param introduced about Max Foundation & FOM, and associated slides that gave an insight on the program, compliance and current status as well as statistics. As the combination of both was to render in English by Amma and Malayalam by Param, however after a few slides, Amma was spell bound by Param Malayalam translation and told Param to lead the session and Param ensured that the key notes from the slides were aptly delivered to the audience in Malayalam, the local language.
Then came the important moment of the day – Being Max Birthday, the Maximise life campaign was launched here at RCC by releasing a book by Dr Geetha Narayanan, Dr Madhavan and Dr Shruthi along with Max foundation leads, Param and the book was launched by a young CML survivor Mohammed Saheed, who is in the program for over a year now.
A brief on the book was given by Amma and Param to the audience.
This followed with the Q&A session and the participation from the audience was very encouraging and lively.
Following the vote of thanks given by Ms Beena, the testimonials session got kicked off and from the audience, there was a clear show case of “ I am Maximo, I am advocate” was lively seen and heard. The testimonials were very heart rending and touched all those present in the meeting. All testimonials gave their stories and also thanked Ms Beena for her outstanding support which she gives,24×7 to all those who needed assistance be it in any form.
The most eagerly awaited moment came at 1.00pm to celebrate Max Birthday wherein Kerala chapter Volunteers had a beautifully designed cake that had the words, “I am Maximo, I am an advocate” was cut by all the children who were in the auditorium.
Following lunch, the audience who were in full strength too post lunch, got a brief story reading on Maximo Book the Big C which was beautifully rendered by Ms Beena.
The important session of Drama Therapy was well explained and laid out by Amma and the Drama Therapy was conducted based on a real story of our two Maximos from Kerala Chapter – Shahjahan and Mumtaz.
The participants brought real life to the drama and there was complete participation from both the actors and the audience.
The meeting concluded with the drama therapy having a happy ending with music song rendered by the dynamic and vocalist FOM Maximo, Mujeeb and group photo sessions of course with the Selfies of Amma Style with the core group.
Oct 19th 2014 was indeed a great day for all here in Thiruvananthapuram to be a part to celebrate Max Birthday and also to launch the Maximise life Campaign of “ I am Maximo, I am an advocate”.
By
Parameshwaran S, FOM Bangalore