Rabina Khan makes an appeal. (All photos: Ras H. Siddiqui)

The Cancer Care Hospital & Research Center (CCH-RC) in Lahore is a charitable trust which provides free care for cancer patients in the heart of Punjab province, the most populated region in Pakistan. It is neither the first nor the only such effort in the area. That credit goes the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital facility which started the focus on the free and cutting edge treatment of this dreaded disease many years ago. But not only has the population of the province gone up since then, so has the need for such free or low cost treatment. Shaukat Khanum and other facilities like INMOL have reached their upper limit on the numbers that they can treat (approximately 21% of the total number of cancer patients). To add a great deal more capacity CCH-RC (http://www.cch-rc.com/) is the most ambitious new project of its kind with an added focus on palliative care and on female patients.

Dr. Shaharyar and Ghazala Tariq

On Oct. 11, a fundraiser was held at the White Lotus Banquet Hall in the Sacramento County suburb of Citrus Heights spearheaded by Rabina Khan who is the local Ambassador for this effort.  This was the second time (the first was in 2017) that the Sacramento, California area community has hosted Professor Dr. Shaharyar (Chairman) and Ghazala Tariq (Board Member) at a fundraiser for this hospital which has now become much more than a vision. It is undergoing construction as it rapidly increases its capacity to treat more patients. As the CCH-RC website explains “Palliative Care is the treatment of symptoms and complications of cancer which is desperately needed by advanced cancer patients at a time when cancer becomes incurable and symptom management becomes most important to maintain the quality of life.” In many cases pain management is the prime goal because cancer can be an agonizing disease.

Neha Khan accepts award from Ghazala Tariq

The event started off rather late as community members trickled in from varying distances throughout the region (apologies to the people who arrived on time). Emcee Beela Shaikh invited, a young lady from the community for the customary invocation, followed by its translation both in English and the Urdu language. It needs to be noted that Beela started here with a multi-faith greeting reflecting the makeup of the audience which included members of the Indian Punjabi community.

Riffat Sultana in action

Soon after the Chief Guest, Prof. Dr. Shaharyar gave a very professional briefing or presentation on the aims and objectives of CCH-RC and the varying stages of developments that are taking place in various departments at their 600 bed hospital facility off Raiwind Road in the Lahore area. He also gave alarming details backed with numerical data on how cancer is impacting people in the region (some photographs were indeed very grim). Pakistan is a relatively poor country and many families who are already struggling to survive cannot afford the further impact of cancer in their lives. Shaharyar spoke of patients arriving with late stage breast cancer from rural areas for treatment at CCH-RC while others out of hopelessness even consider suicide as an option. He said that there were close to 400 cancer deaths daily in Punjab alone. Waiting times for radiation treatment are already too long at existing facilities making a curable stage of the disease an incurable one. Needless to say the gap is so great that it can be overwhelming, a reason why CCH-RC could use financial support from friends and supporters outside the country. This was just a brief glimpse and there was a great deal more that was discussed and that set the stage for the fundraising effort to follow.

Sofiya Ahmed, Aima Baig and Shahbaz Shigri.

During the fundraiser the local ladies including Rabina, Beela and Durriya Syed did a commendable job. But the three representatives from Pakistan’s show business and music industry who were here to add some start power for a great cause made their contribution too. Here one has to single out Sofiya Ahmed who did a wonderfully professional job during this segment. Aima Baig and Shahbaz Shigri also made an impression. All had their own personal stories to share on how cancer had impacted their lives or the lives of their near and dear ones.

The local Punjabi Community lends its support.

On another personal note here from our own community in the Greater Sacramento area, the family of a late friend was presented with an award of appreciation on behalf of the Cancer Care Hospital & Research Center for their generosity towards their project. The Khan family has adopted this cause and continues to support it. There were many moist eyes here in the hall when their youngest daughter Neha Khan accepted the award on behalf of the family while her mother Irum looked on. Tariq Khan lost his battle against the disease at a young age but he has remained an inspiration (through his family) so that others can carry on the fight.

The Organizers with the Randhawas.

Many people and representatives of local organizations stepped forward to donate this evening. Farshad Azad from North Valley Community Foundation (Chico) was recognized earlier in the evening. All the volunteers also need to be congratulated. Over $114,000 was collected on this occasion to help the fight against cancer in Pakistan.

A section of the audience.

Dinner was served and some brief entertainment followed which included Aima Baig singing three or four songs and with Riffat Sultana closing the event with her high energy performance.