Vineet was 13 years of age with three younger siblings. Their father had abandoned them a year earlier and their mother had since then been doing all kinds of menial jobs to keep them from starving. They lived in a one room rented shack across the river Yamuna. When the CanSupport home care team made their first visit they saw an emaciated boy with a drainage tube stuck in his chest, shivering in the icy cold of a Delhi winter. He had only one sweater and his mother had washed it that day. He would have to wait to get warm.



Vineet had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system that is very treatable if diagnosed early, almost two years before the CanSupport home care team made their first visit to his home. His growing loss of weight and energy alarmed his father who had taken him to the Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital (IRCH) at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). After a series of tests, the doctors informed the father that his son had a curable cancer, which would cost approximately Rs. one lakh to treat. Vineet's father was a daily wage labourer who could not dream of raising such money. However, he begged and borrowed and subsequently Vineet received eight cycles of chemotherapy till the money ran out. He then stopped coming to hospital.

When he returned a year and a half later he had a persistent cough, and suffered from pain and breathlessness. The doctors rebuked his mother soundly for not having brought the boy earlier. They said that the cancer had spread all over and that there was nothing further that they could offer him now. Vineet was referred to the pain and palliative care clinic at IRCH where he was started on pain killers and other supportive treatment. They in turn referred him to the CanSupport home care team for follow up care.

It was clear to the visiting team on their first visit that the needs of Vineet and his family were many and varied. For one, there was not enough food to go around. Vineet found it difficult to eat, not because he could not swallow, but because every morsel he ate was at the expense of his younger siblings and his mother. In fact, this was the cause of his greatest anguish which he shared this with the team. From now on, the team began to provide food rations and warm clothes to the impoverished family as well as medicines. Despite her abject poverty, Vineet's mother had her pride and was anxious that her neighbours did not get the impression that she had been reduced to begging. Therefore, this exchange usually took place at a distance from the house and the goods were carefully concealed under her shawl.

Besides the imperatives of earning a living, Vineet's mother was also trying to cope with the nursing needs of her sick son. The nurses on the team were able to advise her about the care of the drainage tube that Vineet had in his chest and also on the need for general hygiene. Also, as Vineet's pain increased he was put on codeine tablets and towards the end on a small dose of morphine. This eased his pain and increasing breathlessness. It was the job of the counsellor to get Vineet's mother to accept that her son was sicker than she would want to imagine.

Vineet was often left at home alone with his two young sisters and younger brother. Not that he minded. He loved them dearly. In fact, when the team asked him what he desired most of all he mentioned a tour of Delhi not so much for himself as for his mother and younger siblings. Unfortunately, soon after, Vineet began to decline rapidly while Delhi continued to be in the grip of a cold wave accompanied by thick fog. We regret that this outing never took place. However, one of our volunteers did donate a hand-held video game to Vineet which became his prized possession and gave him much pleasure.

When Vineet died a few months later, the home care team had the satisfaction that they had been able to offer him and his family much needed support. They were grateful that they had been given an opportunity to ease the passing of this very special young boy.

Name changed to protect identity