In a traditionally patriarchal society, where the identity and value of a woman are determined by her husband, widowhood is about much more than losing a husband. There is a lot that a woman has to bear without making a complaint when women have to live without husband. Dimple is one such inspiring young woman, who lost her husband to cancer. Post his diagnosis, Dimple underwent a painful ordeal. Let me take you through her story.
Dimple was leading a healthy and happy life along with her husband, but who knew that destiny wanted them to be isolated? Nitesh was a jovial personality in general. The marital affiance with Dimple further beautified his life, making both of them a very blessed and blissful couple, so much so that the two were eulogized as an envious family by people known to them.
In 2016, as ill luck would have it, some unexpected news came buzzing to Dimple and informed her that husband Nitesh was suffering from an ugly disease- stage III colorectal cancer
While Nitesh was fighting with cancer, Dimple was losing her heart. After a year-long struggle filled with interventions including Surgery, Radiation, and Chemotherapy, the couple thought the nightmare would come to an end. It appeared to them that they had defeated Cancer, but the post-treatment scan of June 2017 indicated that the disease had metastasized to his lungs, pelvis and other abdominal areas – a total of 12 tumours. Dimple was devastated when she realized that Nitesh would no longer be with her. Despite all this, Dimple decided to marry him since he was the man whom she loved the most. They took oath in front of God to never leave each other’s side. And Dimple the newly wedded wife of Nitesh promised to heal her husband with faith and love.
On March 14, 2018, Nitesh departed from the world and left Dimple crying. The wedding oath came to an end with death, but their love is still alive and will always be. Dimple thereafter was left with two options- either spend the rest of her life with grief or do something for the society through which they could show the world how much they love each other. Ergo Dimple made the choice of lending a helping hand to all those who are suffering from the very disease. During his battle, Nitesh had a wish to lay support to the family of cancer patients and the family after his recovery, since he knew how it felt when someone diagnosed with cancer.
Despite the tragedy, she made up her mind to help other cancer patients and established organizations named LHC (Love Heals Cancer) and ZenOnco.io. LHC is a community of patients, caregivers, survivors, volunteers, and all individuals or organizations, dedicated to providing love and support to cancer patients around the world. ZenOnco.io provides personalized nutrition, fitness, psychology programs and cancer counseling across all phases of the cancer journey.
“These websites and organizations are for those who are diagnosed with cancer every day. These aim to take care of people who are suffering from cancer. You are not alone. We are with you. We just want to help those who need it and spread their stories around the world for they are the true fighters among us,” Says Kishan Shah, who is a Co-Founder of the organization.
“Our goal is to help cancer patients live better and, where possible, longer lives. We provide support in the form of balanced information on choices in healing, mainstream and complementary therapies, exploring emotional and spiritual dimensions of cancer, and discovering that illness can sometimes lead to a richer and fuller life,” he adds.
Generally, after a woman loses her husband, as per old religious customs she is made to give up wearing bright clothes for white attire. But Dimple shunned these “old fashioned” beliefs and emerged as a strong woman helping thousands of cancer patients. Dimple still has not accepted defeat and certainly not from cancer. Dimple was almost thrown out of the world by fate but she dared to stand up again. She is still fighting and will fight till her last breath.
She has also rediscovered true love in the form of her new life-partner Kishan, who completely left his lucrative career in finance to join her in spreading love to defeat cancer. She has proved that death does not mean the end of anything, but it’s a deep and meaningful experience that teaches about life everything. The new couple believes that Nitesh has not gone, but he is still with them, guiding them in the form of white light to help all cancer patients. Nitesh lives forever through their Love Heals Cancer (LHC) and ZenOnco.io, and hopefully shall continue to grow to help lakhs of cancer patients each year.
“We the members of Love Heals Cancer and ZenOnco.io are committed to providing love, care, and support to cancer patients around the world,” Says Dimple.
