Helping Children <i>With Cancer </i>

Pavel on his eighth birthday. Photo: Ihtisham Kabir

For most of us, the twentieth of May is just another day. But for Afzal and Salma Choudhury, it is a day etched with the most intense pain.
That is because on this day in 1990, their three-year old son Ashiq died of cancer.
Remembering their son, Afzal and Salma decided to dedicate their lives to helping child cancer patients. They started Ashic Foundation on May 20, 1994.
Between nine and ten thousand children in Bangladesh get cancer annually. Ashic Foundation helps many by providing a family shelter, terminal patient care, patient sponsorships and play centres at several hospitals.
I visit their 9-bed palliative care centre in Dhanmandi to meet with Afzal, an engineer and telecommunications pioneer, and his wife Salma, Founder Chairperson of the operation.
“When the hospital decides nothing more can be done, it sends the [terminal] children home. That's when this centre steps in. Dying of cancer is painful; we try to reduce the pain at the end,” he says. The centre's doctors and nurses train parents to care for their children after returning to their village and provide other help.
The centre - clearly a labour of love - permeates with warmth and affection and includes rooms with beds, play area, dining area, a kitchen and bathrooms. The children affectionately call Salma “Madam-Auntie.”
I meet Pavel, who suffers from terminal AML, an acute form of leukemia. He is here after three doses of chemotherapy at BSMMU. Today is his eighth birthday.
Trying to talk with Pavel, I find myself at a loss for words. But he is friendly and cooperative. He was brought up in Bogra and attends kindergarten there, but now his parents have moved near Dhaka for his treatment. Pavel likes books and, after posing for me, resumes reading near his mother. Presently, his Madam-Auntie (Salma) brings him goodies - toys, candies, books - for his birthday.
Salma has seen hundreds of patients spread over seventeen years. I ask about memorable incidents.
“There was a 14-year old boy, Imran, who stayed here and eventually went home to Feni. We helped but also knew his situation was worsening every day. One day his mother called me saying Imran wanted to talk to his Madam-Auntie. She passed her phone to his hand, but I heard only silence. He had just breathed his last.”
Sustaining Ashic requires substantial funds, and Afzal and Salma must devote effort and entrepreneurship into fundraising. Income is from various sources, including rental income from their properties. Local fundraising efforts are often organised and led by students, they inform me proudly. (Tangents readers may recall Felicity Aris's haircut to help Ashic.) Foreign organisations donate, too.
But the couple wants to do much more. They are planning a 250-bed hospital in Savar for cancer patients, a clinic and diagnostic centre in Shyamoli, and a hospital management training centre in Banani.
What about today's needs? An ambulance is high on their need-list if you want to help. Their website is www.ashic.org.

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