CanSupport Annual Remembrance Day 2009 Observed

Cancer strikes indiscriminately regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, faith, or affiliation. It is an equal opportunity offender. At CanSupport, while strides are made daily to provide holistic palliative care to more than 1000 advanced cancer patients annually, for nearly 500, it turns deadly.



Over 230 participants gathered on Saturday, November 7 in the beautiful Court Lawns of the India International Centre to observe CanSupport’s 12th Annual Remembrance Day. Each year, this service honors the memory of those who have lost their lives to cancer. It is a time for the CanSupport’s home care teams to meet with the families of the patients they have looked after.

The day’s program involved soft, comforting music by Mr. Satish Sharma and his wife, Arleen, who touched every heart with their soulful songs encouraging families to get along with their lives. CanSupport’s ten Home Care teams shared stories of the extraordinary courage showed by the patients and families alike in the face of death. The family members also spoke about their association with CanSupport and pledged support to the cause. It was a poignant meeting with the message that we are not alone and that collectively we can find solace and comfort.

The names of remembered loved ones were spoken quietly as the memorial diyas were lit and messages written on leaves stuck on the Tree of Remembrance; a beautiful and touching reminder that , ‘In life we loved you dearly, in death we do the same’. Each family was presented with aloe vera and rosemary plants, as a keepsake of Remembrance Day 2009.