THE GREAT CANCER COMEBACKS

From a Oncologist's notebook: ''Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in body''
From a Psychiatrist's notebook: ''Cancer always leads to severe major depression''  
From an India-TV journalist's notebook: ''Cancer is something that Yuvraj Singh is suffering'' !!!


                       Nothing is more disastrous than knowing the fact that you are suffering from a malignant cancer & death is knocking at the door. Though AIDS is more dangerous,it is not as famous as it's glamorous counterpart CANCER because no one really comes back from AIDS to reveal the fight with it. But comeback stories are more in case of cancer. Cancer causes depression, depression may worsen cancer & the vicious cycle continues. That is why those who have fought & won the battle against it deserve the salutes from us. Treatment in the textbooks are same for all patients but the patience & self-confidence differs, hence the following personalities are a huge sources of inspiration for all of us.

STEVE JOBS:
If you have slightest of general knowledge then this man doesn't need an introduction.Though he was suffering from carcinoma of pancreas which has a very high mortality rate, the way he worked & uplifted apple is just amazing. The word 'Inspiration' is just another word staarting from 'i', when we talk about Steve Jobs. Now-a-days there are two kinds of phones in market, the iphones & the non-iphones!! this is the man behind the 'i' revolution. Surviving 8 years with a highly malignant Pancreatic tumor, undergoing a liver transplantation & managing Apple simultaneously makes you a true legend.

LANCE ARMSTRONG:
When it comes to sportsperson with cancer, it is Lance who always takes the top spots in web pages. He was suffering from a malignant variety of Cancer of testis. But for him, it was just a disease. His performance after the diagnosis of the cancer proves that self-belief is much more malignant than a malignant cancer. He won the prestigious Tour de France championship for a record consecutive 7 times after the Cancer diagnosis.
Hats off to you Lance.

                   KATHY BATES


Frankly speaking if you want to know about the achievements of this american actress please refer to her Wikipedia page. I guess space will be an issue to type her achievements here. In short, she is a super acting talent. Though she was diagnosed with a malignant ovarian tumor in the year 2002, she revealed that in public in 2008 after getting recovery from cancer. But the interesting thing is that during those 5 years with cancer she had acted in nearly  4o movies which include some of the biggest hits like, 'About Schmidt', 'PS I Love you', 'Around the world in 80 days' etc. She is currently the executive committee chair of the actors branch of the Academy of motion picture arts & Sciences Board of Governors.

KYLIE MINOUGE

The famous Australian singer, song writer, recording artist, actress, show girl...... In short, a talent powerhouse.

She didn't stop after being diagnosed with carcinoma of breast in the year 2005. But after the mastectomy surgery & intensive chemotherapy she staged her own comeback. Plenty of hit albums & stage performances speaks the volume of her confidence. Salutes to you.

                           NELSON MANDELA


1st black president of Republic of South africa, Nobel laureate for peace. 




He was diagnosed with a malignant prostate cancer for which he had to undergo series of radio therapies & chemotherapies.  More than 30 years of imprisonment, pulmonary TB infection & now battling against Carcinoma of prostate.  He is a true example of 'how to bear pain patiently' !!! 








MARK  HERZLICH
A famous American footballer & one of the bests of the team 'New York Giants' of the NFL. He was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer named as Ewing's Sarcoma. After the diagnosis he gave a speech in media which was really inspiring for all the cancer victims...'' I had been extremely focus on preparing for my senior season in the Boston college & for life beyond that.. but now, I must channel all that energy into facing my toughest opponent yet & that is exactly what I'll do. At this point, what this means for football in future but I am determined to rid my body of this disease so that I can put my uniform back on''. 
Despite not playing college football in 2009, he received Disney's Wide world of sports spirit award for overcoming cancer, as well the Nils V.''Swede'' Nelson award for sportsmanship. In January 2011, he received the ''Most courageous athlete award from the Philadelphia sports writers association.  You are a true champion !!

JON LESTER

One of the best base ball players of USA. Currently in the Boston Red Sox team. He was bought by BRS with a price $1.1, the highest signing amount for a second rounder.

He was diagnosed with a malignant Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the year 2005. But within 2 years of the diagnosis he came back to the field & won the final game of the  2007 world series  & in May 2008, he pitched a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals. To honor Lester's comeback from lymphoma, the Boston baseball writer's association of America voted him for the 2007 'Tony Conigliaro award' .. 

               JOHN CULLEN

He is a professional NHL9 National Hockey League) player of Canadian origin. He was the all time lead scorer for Boston University. He was diagnosed with NHL( Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma) in the year 1997 for which he had to undergo intensive radio & chemotherapy for 2 years. During those days he had nearly faced death once because of cardiac arrest. But ultimately he got cured & re-entered on to the field of ice with a $0.5 million contract for the 1998-99 season. Rest was history as because of his performances the team 'Tampa bay lightnings' easily advanced to all tournaments. Coming back from a Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma, sustaining a cardiac arrest & giving some match winning performances just makes this man special.

                     EDNA CAMPBELL

She was a professional Basketball player of the WNBA playing for the Sacramento Monarchs team. 

She is well known for continuing her playing career in spite of being diagnosed with breast cancer. She became the WNBA's national spokesperson for it's anti cancer efforts with Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation. During the 2006 WNBA season, which honored 9 years of existence, Edna Campbell 's return from breast cancer was nominated by fans as Most inspirational & one of the top four WNBA anniversary decade moments

I have mentioned about the comeback of 9 personalities from the jaws of cancer. I could have easily searched another name to make a list of 10 comebacks. But I did keep it only 9 deliberately because I'll edit this post & I'll make it 10 only after YUVRAJ SINGH comes back from the Cancer center to the Cricket Center. In short, the slot is reserved for YUVRAJ & this post is dedicated to this person who has tasted us a World Cup.

DEAR YUVRAJ, YOU ARE A SUPER TALENT & WE ALL ARE PRAYING FOR YOUR QUICK RECOVERY. 

THE KING OF SAND

                A nice sunny Sunday, not much work,12000 km away from from home and importantly alone...Believe me this is the best time to have a look at the pictures saved in the laptop. It really refreshed all my sweet memories. While watching, I really paused the windows picture slide show to concentrate on a particular picture.I was with a great person in that picture & frankly speaking I am really proud to have that picture with me.  It  is the picture neither with SRK nor with my darling Dia Mirza. He is one of the biggest achievers of the state ODISHA. He is unorthodox in the fashion that he gives shape to sands, supremely successful but extremely down to earth . He is none other than the great sand artist Mr Sudarshan Pattnaik.


                 I always believe that if we can't do anything for our own state/country, we must at least let others know about the achievements of our people. So it gives me immense pleasure to let others know about this great personality from Odisha. This talent was born in a very poor family in  1977 in Puri, the holy land of the Lord Jagannath. He is the first sand artist of India. It is such an art in which one needs to swim in the sea of creativity in order to achieve something. The holy air of puri, blessings of Lord Jagannath & the DNA power-packed with creativity gradually drove this person to the pinnacle of success in a unique field of art. he has been conquering the sands since the age of only seven ! In a state where people are obsessed with turning their children into either doctors or engineers, he has proved that nothing can beat creativity. Interestingly there was nobody to teach him these arts. He was his own teacher, he created & he mastered it.. !!


               Now after almost 25 years of romance with the sands, he is regarded as the numero uno sand artist of the panet. A person who was never taught anything regarding sand art is managing an institute in the name 'Golden Sand art Institute' in Puri which is first of it's nature in whole India. Plenty of students are working under his arm & one of them is Manas kumar Sahoo who was the semi finalist of India's got talent season-2.

Let me put light on some of his remarkable achievements;

- He has participated in more than 40 international sand art competitions & won may awards for the country

- The 15 feet high Santa clause of sand made by him holds the world record for tallest ever Santa clause.

- He won the people's choice award at the 1st International Sand Sculpture Championship held in Moscow,  Russia.

- He brought to life with sand the stirring image of Mahatma Gandhi leading the Dandi march at the commonwealth games opening ceremony in New Delhi.

- He had created a 15 feet high hindu God Ganesh to create awareness among the people on the potential dangers of global warming at the international sand championship. The top of the sculpture depicted the melting the glaciers of the Himalayas & in the flowing water Lord Ganesh travelling on a boat with a sign 'Divine concern on global warming' !!

- His other  amazing sand creations were the  'Black Taj mahal' , Obama, Lord Jagannath, Buddha etc

                            The above achievements are like a drop from an ocean. He is just 35 years old so plenty of artistic wonders are on the cards  & I can't use the phrase ''Rest is history''. You are really a star & we the Indians and Odias are really proud of your achievements & we pray for your success in future endeavors.

                       

MAN ON A MISSION

Member of international institute of education New York, Executive member of Indian Red- cross, executive member of AICTE, Commission member of UGC India, Member of forest right act committee Govt .of India, Chairman of advisory committee of padmashree Dr D.Y Patil University , youngest chancellor of any university in India (limca bok of records 2007), ‘glory of India’ award 2007 by Indian International friendship society London  & last but not the least, founder of KIIT; one of the best universities of India& founder of KISS; the paradise for 12000 tribal students....

 

Believe me; I have typed only a fraction of his achievements...He is the great Dr Achyuta Samant.  I watched one of his interviews yesterday in a news channel & I just can’t stop myself to write about him even though I have only 11 days for 3^rd prof MBBS exam. It doesn’t matter how much I write about him because at end of the day the quantity will be compared to amount of dresses that a porn star wears. But I’ll try my best at least to provide a salwar!!!

He was born in 1965 in a very poor family in Orissa & later dragged into extreme corner of poverty after death of his father. At that point of time he was only 4 years old accompanied 6 other family members. He didn’t have any significant paternal property as his father was a worker in a steel plant. His family used to sell seasonal vegetables in the backyard of their semi-thatched house. But the poverty couldn’t chop his desire for his education. Intense desire & extreme poverty paved his way towards a rosy career, though the road was not really rosy. He used to walk 30 km per day to complete his high schooling & his sheer brilliance impressed many of his school teachers. After that he entered a college in Puri for higher education & later did his Msc in Chemistry from the glorious Utkal University(UU) in Bhubaneswar. During the college days he used to tuition school children as the amount of money he used to receive from his poor family was negligible for higher studies. He joined a college in Bhubaneswar as a chemistry lecturer after he passé out from UU & the rest was history. The amount of his sufferings from poverty I’ve mentioned here is not at all proportionate to his original ones, so don’t misjudge & tell that it is a traditional Indian story of poverty.

The great entrepreneur under his skin never satisfied him during his job as a lecturer. So he decided to start a ITI(named as KIIT; Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology) in Bhubaneswar & that too with a capital of $100only!! Gradually he groomed his institution into one of the best engineering colleges of Orissa. Later he added more wings in the form of KIIT law school, KIMS (Kalinga Instituite of Medical Sciences), KIIT international school, KIIT school of Business to the bird known as KIIT. Later it got the deemed university status. Now it is Ranked-16 in the top Indian university list!! But the small bird was transformed into ostrich when he established KISS (Kalinga Institute of Social science). I think KISS needs some special introduction, so let’s move to the next paragraph!!

KISS, the brainchild of Dr Samant is the largest free Residential Institute exclusively for Tribal Children in Asia. Here 12000 tribal students are provided with education from kindergarten to post graduation ( K.G to P.G). Food, accommodation, healthcare and all the basic amenities of life are absolutely free, besides a job on completion of study and provision for higher studies. 20 more branches in as many districts and 5 branches in as many states are in the pipeline. Currently he is receiving more than 50000 applications per annum only for KISS!!  In his interview he said that he selects students on the degree of poverty. He never chooses meritorious students, rather he creates!! Truth reflects from his words as the passing rate of KISS students in state board examinations is 100%( the state passing rate is 54% only). While the former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam who visited KISS twice described it as a wonder, Noble Winner Prof. Richard Ernst lauded Samanta as his role model. Padmavibhusan Magsaysay award winner and social activist Mahasweta Devi has gone on records to describe KISS as ‘Bapu’s dream realized’, a ‘Second Santiniketan’ and ‘Bharat Tirtha’, envisioned by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. As Prof. Yaspal rightly remarks, ‘Samanta perhaps represents the most convincing argument that India will make it as India and not as a so-called developed country of someone else’s concept’. KISS has now added many feathers to its cap. It has been selected to receive the Micro Scholarship programme by the US Government and enlisted by UNFPA as a life skill centre. The world bodies like ‘Give India’, ‘UNICEF’ have reposed faith on KISS and its founder Samanta. Is it not a strange coincidence that Samanta was short-listed for the India Business Award – 2009 for his Social Responsibility along with the company where, his father once worked as a small time worker? Samanta has also been short listed for the coveted Qatar Foundation Prize for his innovation called KISS. Limca Book of Records has entered KISS in its pages. 

After reading this you must be thinking that Dr Samant is a very rich man. But believe me; he stays in a rented house, he doesn’t have his own bank account & you won’t find nothing more than 10 chairs in his rented house. When he was asked in the interview that why he is still a bachelor, he told that, who’ll give their daughter to a poor man like me? He says that he has only one dream in life now & that is all about the development KISS & the eradication of poverty.

Dr Samant, we the people of Orissa salute you from the core of our heart.you are really one of the greatest sons orissa has ever produced. You have been a tremendous source of inspiration for all the Indians. We pray for the success of your extra-ordinary target. May KISS kiss all the success.