Love Heals Cancer
After losing her soulmate to cancer, Dimple Parmar and Kishan Shah founded Love Heals Cancer to help cancer patients and caregivers
By Aatika H Jain
Dimple Parmar firmly believes that love heals. She shared this belief with her husband Nitesh Prajapat whom she lost to stage 4 colorectal cancer less than a year after their marriage. She married Nitesh knowing that he might not survive after 6 months. Their deep bond and wish to give back to the society which had reached out to them in their times of adversity is what laid the foundation of Love Heals Cancer (LHC). The Mumbai-based NGO aims to guide cancer patients through Integrative Oncology approaches. It provides healing choices to cancer patients to enable them to make an informed decision on treatment to follow that suits their body, mind, and soul. It provides a Personalized Integrative Oncology Wellness Plan, focusing on diet, fitness, emotional wellness, and community support through its team of 50+ healthcare experts. It provides a common platform for cancer patients, their caregivers, survivors, volunteers, and several organizations to offer support to people fighting the dreaded disease. It advocates for informed choice by offering balanced information about different integrative, complementary and alternative approaches to cancer care.
The NGO also offers psychological and spiritual guidance to deal with the emotional and psychological upheaval that cancer brings along with the physical debilitation. “LHC focuses on comprehensive and integrated healing of both patients and caregivers,” says Jimit Gandhi, a survivor from Mumbai. “The treasure of compassion, positivity, generosity, and love, which LHC holds within is truly astounding.” LHC has counselled more than a thousand patients to date and touched more than 6,000 lives.
Love’s Healing Touch
Dimple Parmar met Nitesh at IIM-Kolkata in 2016 while they worked on their individual startups. An alumnus of IIT Kanpur and MBA student at IIM-Kolkata, Nitesh was on a definitive path to success. But life had other plans. During a routine check-up in June 2016, Nitesh discovered that he had stage 3 colorectal cancer devastated yet resolute to fight back, he started treatment with the support of his family and friends. Dimple helped him through the trials and tribulations of cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Their connection deepened, they got engaged in April 2017 on their Graduation Day on campus. and just a few weeks after their graduation, they received the best news they could have wished for—Nitesh was cancer-free. But the test of their fortitude was not over yet. In June, a post-treatment scan revealed that cancer had metastasized and that there were twelve tumours spread over the lungs, pelvis and abdominal regions.
Love heals cancer offers a number of services to cancer patients and their caregivers including patient counselling about holistic healing, cancer retreats, mindful caregiver education, and end-of-life conversations. LHC also organises awareness drives.
Despite the challenging prospect of potentially losing the fight against cancer, they resolved to stay positive and got married in August. A week later, they shifted to the US to participate in clinical trials. There, they received not only financial and logistics support from strangers but also love and care which filled them with gratitude. Unfortunately, by January 2018, Nitesh was in pain. But instead of suffering, he was filled with love, happiness, and joy. It turns out that something as simple as love is the only thing that matters, says Dimple. In March 2018, Nitesh passed away. And Love Heals Cancer was conceptualized.
Despite the deep personal loss, Dimple was determined to realize what Nitesh and she had dreamed of. In June, LHC actively began extending support to patients and their caregivers. “Curing is where you survive medically, and healing is where you survive mentally and emotionally. What we are focusing on is not the healing of the body, but of the person as a whole. The focus is on the body, mind, and soul and not just on the disease,” says Dimple.
Love Heals Cancer
Founded in
2018
Founder
Dimple Parmar And Kishan Shah
Head Office
Mumbai
Awards & Recognitions
Top 100 Healthcare Leaders
Award at International
Forum for
Advancement in
Healthcare
Achievements
1,000+ patients helped
30+ awareness
programmes
300+ volunteers
“The therapies and approaches that we use are backed by scientific evidence and they come directly from the world’s best centres with complete authenticity and proof.” LHC offers a number of services to cancer patients and their caregivers, including patient counselling about holistic healing, healing circles, cancer retreat, mindful caregiver education and end of life conversations.
“Healing circles is a learning community for people with cancer and those who care for them,” says Dimple. LHC also organizes cancer awareness, prevention, and early detection programs regularly. Currently operational in multiple cities, it plans to expand to other cities. “To provide accessible and affordable integrative cancer care worldwide, we have launched another project, ZenOnco.io, soon where we are providing home care, care at our centre and online counselling,” shares Dimple.
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