“The idea of celebrating this day is to raise awareness about childhood cancer and also to express support for children with cancers and their families. To commemorate the International Childhood Cancer Day, at KMCH we have organized the event called Kuttigalukkana Chutti Dhinam,” Thavamani D. Palaniswami, Vice Chairman, KMCH, said while celebrating International Childhood Cancer Day

In his message, Chairman Nalla G. Palaniswami emphasised on the need to provide quality treatment at affordable costs to treat the disease. “Cancer patients, especially children, must have access to quality treatment and medical facilities. They should never have to walk through this difficult journey alone. Full support must be extended and care must be given to patients so that they can face the challenges of this disease. They must also be trained to do everything possible to ease them of the burden of this disease,” Nalla G Palaniswami said.

Children who suffer from cancer have high chances of getting cured. “Childhood cancers usually respond well to chemotherapy because they tend to be cancers that grow fast. Most forms of chemotherapy affect cells that are growing quickly. Children have the ability to recover from even high doses of chemotherapy. Doctors do their best to balance the need for intensive treatment with a desire to limit the side effects as much as possible. In the last 40 years, the overall survival rate of children suffering from cancer has increased from 10 percent to nearly 90 percent today. This is a remarkable achievement in our ability to treat this disease,” Dr. T. Rajasekar, Hemato-oncologist, KMCH said.

Awareness among the public can help in early diagnosis and treatment of cancer. “KMCH will continue to organize initiatives that will help in making the public aware of this disease, thus enabling early diagnosis and treating cancer in its early stages and increasing the chances of survival of cancer patients,” Dr. Arun N. Palaniswami said. Dr. K. Rajendran, Paediatrician, KMCH spoke on the subject ‘Caring for Cancer Children.’

Actor Immaan Anaachi was the special guest at the event. He interacted with the children and entertained them. More than 60 children and their families participated in the event. A few fun games were organized for the children and all of them were given gifts.