Rakul Preet celebrates Children’s Day with child cancer survivors

Actress Rakul Preet Singh felicitated child cancer survivors, sang and danced with them at a colourful celebration on the eve of Children’s Day at Apollo Cancer Hospital on Friday.

The event was jointly organised by the Hospital and CURE Foundation to boost the morale of the young survivors, who went through an ordeal of a lifetime. Children dressed up as their favourite cartoon characters like Chhota Bheem and presented a theme show in which they defeat the cancer “demon”.

Speaking on the occasion Rakul Preet Singh said, “These tiny cancer survivors are the real heroes and I wish to see them successful in their lives. I also look forward to the day we can conquer this dreadful disease. In the recent years cancer treatment has made enormous advances and the best doctors, technology and hospitals are all available to treat cancer; early detection can facilitate treatment of cancer with ease.”

Dr P Vijay Anand Reddy, Director, Apollo Cancer Hospital said, “In India, around 45,000 new cases of Childhood Cancers are diagnosed every year.”

Dr Reddy added that children cope with cancer treatment better than adults and recover much faster. “80 per cent of all childhood cancers are curable and in contrast only 65 per cent of adult cancers are curable,” he pointed out.

Survivors and their parents interacted and shared their experiences with each other. In addition, senior consultant Medical Oncologist Dr SVSS Prasad briefed the gathering about the symptoms of childhood cancers and when to approach the doctors.