"Medicine" Called Happiness

KOMPAS/AMBROSIUS HARTO

Neighbors visit breast cancer patient Anik Ismawati (left), 37, on Friday (31/1/2020) at her rented house on Gang IV, Jl. Sidotopo Wetan in Surabaya, East Java. The cancer has left the mother of four paralyzed. Two children with cancer laugh on 30 Jan. 2020 at the Rumah Kita rehabilitation center, run by the Kasih Anak Kanker Indonesia Foundation (YKAKI) in Jakarta.

More than a dozen middle-aged women danced as the Betawi traditional music was played. Once in a while, they forgot their moves and laughed at themselves.

They are members of a dance group in a Jakarta-based cancer survivors’ community, the Cancer Information and Support Center (CISC). They are sufferers and survivors of various types of cancer, including breast and cervix cancer.

“Some of the moves are difficult for our friends because of their disease. One example is a difficulty to lift their hands straight upwards,” dance mentor Christina said in Jakarta on Wednesday (29/1/2020).

Christina is also a breast cancer survivor. She found out that she had cancer in 2012. She became depressed and tried to find happiness again through dancing. “Dancing gives me positive energy. The key to facing cancer is happiness and positive thoughts,” said Christina, who has served as dancing instructor at the CISC since 2015. The group often performs in various health-themed events in malls and hospitals.

Twice-weekly dance training sessions have also boosted 54-year-old Indra Tutiyati’s spirit for fighting cancer. After finding out that she had breast cancer in early 2010, which made her depressed, Indra’s encounter with fellow cancer patients at the CISC helped her get back up and learn how to dance. She was chosen to be one of the dancers in the opening ceremony of the 2018 Asian Games.

“I felt inferior during the audition as the other dancers were younger and more experienced,” she said. Indra’s story was so inspiring that she was chosen again to dance at the Games’ closing ceremony. She was the oldest and the only cancer survivor among 250 dancers.

KOMPAS/SEKAR GANDHAWANGI

Jihan (right), 11, takes care of her mother and younger siblings on 29 Jan. 2020 at their house in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi. The elementary school student has not gone to school for one month, as she has been taking care of her mother, who has stage IV liver cancer. Poor people in Kendari cannot afford medical treatment.

CISC co-founder Aryanthi Baramuli Putri said the community, which was established in 2002, supported cancer survivors and educated locals. “I am a victim of a lack of cancer knowledge,” said Aryanthi, who found out she had cancer in 2002 and only finished her therapy six years later.

In 2008, CISC established halfway homes for patients and their families from out of town in Jakarta, Batam and Banjarmasin. Now, it has 2,000 members in 11 branch offices. “I used to think that we were helping others through the community. It turned out that we were the ones who were receiving help,” Aryanthi said.

Social media campaign

In the Miles to Share community, runners urge the public to donate for cancer survivors through the Kitabisa.com online platform. Donations began at the 2018 Borobudur Marathon with three runners. Some Rp 150 million (US$11,000) was collected. “A similar movement was also held at the Borobudur Marathon in 2019. This is an organic online movement,” Miles to Share initiator Muhammad Kamil, a fibrosarcoma survivor, said on Wednesday (29/1/2019).

The movement helped public empathy grow.

“Miles to Share has developed into an information-sharing and support medium on social media. We tell stories with hashtags #KalahkanKanker [Defeat Cancer] and #JumatKanker [Cancer Friday] in Instagram. The movement helped public empathy grow,” said Kamil, who is completing his doctoral degree in medicine.

Empathy helps cancer survivors in recovery and increases their quality of life. “The donations have helped the foundation to take care of six children with cancer and their guardians for a whole year,” Miles to Share member Hada Kusumonegoro said.

Staying active and helping other people with cancer is also carried out by Ika Damajanti, the spokesperson of Reach to Recovery Surabaya (RRS), a non-profit organization of breast cancer patients and survivors in Surabaya. Ika found out that she had a stage-II breast cancer in 2000, when she was 28.

“I was shaken,” she said. After surgery, she underwent six chemotherapy sessions and 36 radiotherapy sessions. Seven years after her surgery, Ika was blessed with a son and is now working as a makeup artist. She then joined RRS.

KOMPAS/SAIFUL RIJAL YUNUS

Jihan (right), 11, takes care of her mother and younger siblings on 29 Jan. 2020 at their house in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi. The elementary school student has not gone to school for one month, as she has been taking care of her mother, who has stage IV liver cancer. Poor people in Kendari cannot afford medical treatment.

Breast cancer survivor and national journalist Endri Kurnia is also actively involved in the non-profit organization. She has written a book on her life story.

Cancer patients’ struggles do not stop after their successful treatment. They tirelessly encourage other cancer patients while also campaigning about the dangers of cancer. Through sharing, they achieve happiness, a key to fighting cancer. (SEKAR GANDHAWANGI/AGNES SWETTA PANDIA/AMBROSIUS HARTO)