A colourful celebration of eye cancer survivors

Adorned in white, actor and talk show host, Simi Garewal inaugurated ‘Walls Of Hope,’ the colourful collage of these little survivors’ handprints at LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) in Banjara Hills on Monday.

Little children with retinoblastoma spread a message of hope and survival by showcasing their handprints with a message ‘We Have Survived Cancer’ at LVPEI.

On the occasion Garewal appreciated the doctors’ efforts towards treating the disease and said, “The doctors here are really doing a good job by spreading awareness about cancer especially because most of us don’t talk about eye cancer much.

I have seen children who have survived from this and are leading a normal life.” “I was very moved when I saw the wall; it is truly a wall of triumph, not for those children alone, but also for the doctors who made it possible.

I have been coming to Hyderabad, since I first came for an awards function, it symbolises a culture of old world charm, yet represents modernity, a lovely combination of both worlds,” she added.

Adding a note on her acting career, she said, “If I get good script or story I would definitely come back in movies Also, I’m planning to start my talk show ‘Rendezvous’ in January next year.

Speaking to The Hans India, Head of ‘The Operation Eyesight Universal Institute for Eye Cancer’ at LVPEI, Dr Swathi Kaliki said, “If you see the wall it has a message that - we have survived cancer.

Even in that message if you look very carefully at the each letter, it has been written with 100s of photographs of children who suffered from cancer and ultimately survived by undergoing treatment at our hospital. Many people, when hear the word cancer, relate it to death, which is wrong.

“Retinoblastoma is curable and 95 per cent of them can survive it if treated properly. I have treated 2,000 retinoblastoma cases and the same percentile survived. Mostly this intraocular cancer is common in children,” she adds.

Also present on the occasion were Ramesh Prasad, Board Member, LVPEI, Dr Vijay Anand Reddy and Dr Milind Nayak.