— Sri Rajeshwari (Volunteer Counsellor)
Rashmi was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer at the age of 46. She has two children, one studying in B.com final year and another son studying PUC 2nd year. I first met her when I was counselling voluntarily for the Cancer patients in palliative care.
Months later, knowing the state of progression of her illness, when I went to meet her, she was happily watching her favourite movie on T.V. I called her name and she looked at me. I asked her ‘Arrey! It’s you Rashmi!’, she said’ ‘yes’. I was full of admiration to see her enjoying T.V, though she was having so much of pain. But here she was, calmly watching T.V. She told me that she had learnt mindfulness and was able to take life as it is {in colloquial language}. She shared that she has learnt to be happy and enjoy the moment. More importantly, she said that she wants her family to keep in mind that she left them, enjoying her last moments. True to her generous nature, she thanked us for giving her emotional support. Next time when we went to see her, she was no more.
Life lessons that Rashmi taught us:
- The power of walking the path of life in a joyous way even on death bed.
- What we can control, is our mind and our reactions.
- Importance of finding our own coping mechanism.
- The type of journey, no matter how painful, will change the way you look at life.
