"My first encounter with MAHAK (a non-governmental organization in Tehran dedicated to helping Iranian children with cancer), began when I saw the photo of a person who was smiling because of his survival from cancer. When I saw that photo a light of hope started to flicker in my heart."
This is just a short part of the story of "Hossein", MAHAK’s cancer survivor and a student at the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science in Tehran. After overcoming the difficult path of cancer treatment, he decided to study in the field of medical sciences in order to dedicate all his knowledge to the treatment of cancer-stricken children in the future.
Hossein was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 12; right at the beginning of his teenage. However, he did not let the disease affect his future.
"My story started when I traveled from Ilam to Tehran for biopsy due to my swollen neck. I was diagnosed with cancer by my first pathology test. My family and I were hopeless but the photo on the laboratory's wall attracted our attention.
A healthy happy child who was smiling and had a photo in his hand related to his treatment days; he was a survivor.
A light of hope started to flicker in our hearts. When my father saw the picture of the child, he said "children with cancer will recover!"
At MAHAK, we were told that if I was hospitalized in Ilam, they would still support us financially and psychologically. But we had temporarily changed our place of residence from Ilam to Tehran so, I started my treatment at MAHAK.
I remember the late Professor Parvaneh Vosough who was my oncologist. My treatment lasted a year and four months and then I recovered."
Hossein was highly-motivated while he was at MAHAK. He studied hard so that he would not fall behind his classmates during his treatment process.
Hossein continued, "I could not go to school during the whole treatment period due to my physical weakness and the injection of chemotherapy medications. However, I started and finished seventh grade with volunteer teachers at MAHAK. Everyone encouraged me to study well; they said I would have a bright future."
We denied that our child has cancer
You may ask how Hossein and his family accepted the situation imposed by cancer and were able to fight it?
Like many families, they initially denied it but with the help of psychologists and social workers, they learned more about this disease. They found that cancer was also curable. Hossein says: "The onset of cancer made my parents cry for many days and nights.
They thought cancer was the end of life. At first, I knew nothing about my disease and I found out my disease name when we went to the hospital. MAHAK became our second home and helped us take our time and accept the new conditions. The friendly environment and the assistance of psychologists had good results. There, everyone gets united so that I and children like me have a better life.
From then onwards, I decided to prove myself to all the people who helped me survive. I wanted to show them that I appreciate their efforts and that I would spend all my time and knowledge treating children with cancer."
In the end, MAHAK’s cancer survivor says his message for his cancer-stricken friends: "I know how difficult the path of cancer treatment is, and throughout this process, I have learned that by being strong and energetic I can defeat cancer.
During all those days, with the support of MAHAK, I helped myself to find life motivations and move along to achieve them. Now, I believe that cancer is curable, and I am living with this belief to do my best and build a better future for children with cancer."
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