Rukmani*, 52, does not respond when asked about her cancer diagnosis and treatment. With her medical file in hand, she and her husband, Sivabalan*, a welder, wait outside the Villupuram Cancer Screening and Education Centre at the Government Hospital, for her periodic check-up. In their nearly 10-minute long conversation, not once do the couple mention the word “cancer” but Sivabalan is keen to talk. He recalls every minute detail, as he wants others to know and be aware of what early detection and prompt treatment could mean for patients and their families.
“I didn’t even tell her about her diagnosis until she was admitted for treatment, knowing that she would get scared,” says Sivabalan. It all started, he says, nearly six years ago when Rukmani, who used to work as an agricultural labourer, began to experience abdominal pain. As the pain grew severe over a six-month period, she went to private clinics where she was mostly treated for ulcers, he recalls. “No tests were done, but they gave me medications for pain relief. I was finding it difficult to bend, to eat and had severe lower abdominal pain,” Rukmani quietly adds.
