2017 جي شروعات ۾، مون پنھنجي ساڄي گابي تي ھڪڙو سوز ٺاھيو جيڪو ھڪڙو ننڍڙو ٽڪر وانگر نظر آيو. مون واضح طور تي ان جي شروعات ۾ ڪجھ به نه سوچيو ۽ ان کي صرف هڪ ننڍڙي سوزش جي طور تي برش ڪيو. پر ڪجهه هفتن کان پوءِ، مون ڏٺو ته اهو وڏو ٿي چڪو هو، سوئر هاڻي سخت ڍڳي وانگر لڳي رهيو هو. اهو تڏهن آهي جڏهن منهنجي زال ۽ منهنجي ماءُ پريشان ٿي وئي ۽ مون کي ان جي چڪاس ڪرڻ جي صلاح ڏني.

The first doctor who examined me at AIIMS told me to undergo a fine-needle aspiration (FNAC). The test is a kind of Biopsy procedure to examine lumps and masses that might be cancerous. I still wasn't panicking though; I genuinely thought that it was going to be something minor, just an inflammation, maybe an infection, but nothing major. But the test results were a rude shock.

However, a couple of days later, I managed to push away my fear away and go in for the جراحي to remove the lump. I was operated within a week of my diagnosis. Doctors removed a lump just less than 5 centimeters. The Surgery went fine, but my recovery wasn't too smooth because a skin graft was used and a substantial part of the skin from my thigh was removed. My wound wasn't healing fast enough. I was away from work, mostly in bed, waiting for my wound to heal. These were the days I was most scared, I didn't know what was going to happen to me.

Meanwhile, my worst nightmare had come true. The بيوس report confirmed that I had a high-grade soft tissue sarcoma known as myofibroblastic sarcoma, it is a rare tumor prone to relapse. The reports left me totally shattered and devoid of any hope, but my family stood by me like a rock. My wound took two and a half months to heal.

After my surgery, my first sets of scans were normal but the second follow up did not go well. Fresh scans showed two small nodules in my lungs. Once again, I found myself grappling with what this news meant. At every step of the way, I was trying to become as cancer-literate as possible! Doctors said the nodules were small and the only thing that can be done is to wait and watch. So we waited and naively hoped for the nodules to disappear. But that obviously didn't happen. By the next follow up, both the nodules had grown considerably large in size. The doctors were then officially convinced that my cancer had metastasized and that I had stage 4 cancer. The funny thing is that at the time, I didn't know that stage 4 was the most severe. I thought there must a few more stages! The humor in my situation was short-lived and I had to undergo another Surgery to remove both nodules. I got the Surgery done at the تاتا يادگار اسپتال in Mumbai in October 2018. What followed was six months of intense Chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy is the actual scary bit of treating cancer. I'd pulled through 2 major surgeries, but chemo was a whole different ball game. On bad days, the side effects of chemo make you just about exist. I could feel myself falling into a bad place mentally, I kept thinking, Why me? But then I thought to myself that when I achieved all the great things in my life like studying at an IIT, marrying my love or working with UNICEF, I didn't think why I was chosen, I lapped up all those successes without questions. So this too I'd have to just accept and fight on.

منهنجي 6 چڪر جي شديد ڪيموٿراپي هن سال فيبروري ۾ ختم ٿي چڪي آهي. تازو پيروي صرف گذريل هفتي هئي. هينئر تائين، مان معافي ۾ آهيان ۽ اميد اٿم ته آئون هن طريقي سان رهندس. مان ڪوشش ڪري رهيو آهيان ته مستقبل بابت گهڻو نه سوچيو. مان هر روز وٺان ٿو جيئن اهو اچي ٿو ۽ پنهنجي لاءِ مختصر مدت جا مقصد مقرر ڪيان ٿو.

ڪينسر خوفناڪ آهي ۽ ماڻهو اڪثر سوچيندا آهن، 'مان مرڻ وارو آهيان'. پر توهان کي ذهن جي ان حالت مان نڪرڻو پوندو. انهي سان گڏ، منهنجي مدد ڪئي منهنجي خاندان جي اکين ۾ اميد ڏسڻ لاء. مون انهن کي منهنجي لاءِ وڙهندي ڏٺو ۽ ان مون کي پنهنجي لاءِ وڙهڻ ۾ مدد ڪئي.

پنڪج ماٿور هاڻي 46 سالن جو آهي ۽ پنهنجي ڪٽنب سان جئپور ۾ رهي ٿو. هو يونيسيف انڊيا ۾ پروگرام اسپيشلسٽ طور ڪم ڪري رهيو آهي.