Cancer Care at ACCF - Hope Is Real!

"I would have lost all hopes of getting treatment but am thankful to ACCF doctors and nurses for making me feel positive even at a time when I was financially broken." - Suruj, 25 years, Jorhat

Suruj (name changed) came to ACCF Onco Care Centre-Dibrugarh, with a very large swelling on the face - approximately 12cm X 15cm, causing severe disfigurement. The swelling was so large that it had encroached his left eye - blocking his vision, nose, upper airway - making it difficult to chew or swallow food. He was in great distress as he was neither able to see, nor eat or breathe properly and had sleepless nights. On asking about the delay in approaching us for treatment, he told about the long wait of almost a month in receiving the tissue diagnosis report. Not only this, the pandemic and lockdown added to his woes. Suruj lost his job and he did not have the logistics to travel to Dibrugarh. Lack of public transport and restrictions on inter district travel also added to the delay.

Suruj's well-wishers had supported him with finances and he was finally able to travel to Dibrugarh in a private car. After getting admitted to Assam Medical college Hospital (AMCH), the doctors treating him had found that his tissue report was inconclusive, and he underwent re-biopsy of the swelling. It took seven days to receive the report and during this time the swelling increased in size. Unfortunately, the report was inconclusive for the second time.

Suruj visited ACCF Onco Care Centre for consultation. Considering his condition, the doctor immediately started empirical chemotherapy after completion of the required blood tests at the center at free of cost. ACCF team collected the paraffin tissue block from the pathology laboratory and had sent it to Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) - Kolkata for further analysis (without costing to the patient). Suruj was kept under observation for a few days. The swelling gradually begun to decrease after the chemotherapy. He was discharged and advised to visit after a few days. His report from TMC - Kolkata reached within seven days and Suruj was diagnosed with olfactory neuroblastoma, hyams' grade III / IV. It is one of the rare tumour with one in a lakh incident report. High-end investigations like Immunohistochemistry (IHC), Cytogenetics etc. were done at free of cost at TMC – Kolkata. When Suruj re-visited our centre after twenty-one days of his previous cycle, he was advised three days regimen of chemotherapy based on the final diagnosis. To ensure a seamless process of treatment, Suruj's stay at Dibrugarh was arranged at the Patient Guest House managed by ACCF. After completion of treatment, his swelling had significantly decreased. At present Suruj has no complaints except for a few side effects of chemotherapy.

The improvement of Suruj's health is apparent that cancer is vincible. Timely diagnosis is key to right treatment.

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