Ms. Namrata Singh Gujral ( in center) the celebrated Hollywood actress and TV personality performing dance along with cancer survivors and doctors during Max India Foundation cancer awareness event at Hotel JW Marriott on Tuesday night .
Chandigarh, July 14, 2015: Ms Namrata Singh Gujral, the celebrated Hollywood actress and TV personality attended Max India Foundation (MIF) cancer awareness event at Hotel JW Marriot here this evening. The event was organized in association with Max Cancer Centre.
Present on the occasion were Mrs Mohini Daljeet Singh, CEO-MIF, Dr Harit Chaturvedi, Chairman, Max Institute of Oncology, Mr. Sandeep Dogra, VP-Operations, Max Hospital Mohali and Oncology Team of Max Cancer Centre at Mohali.
Namrata , herself a cancer survivors, was twice afflicted with breast and blood cancer. During occasion , she shared her experiences through her journey while encouraging cancer patients and survivors to live a full life with hope.
She spoke about her harrowing experience and her fight against the disease. She said the courage and conviction helped me through that. She also shared her journey post cancer cure as a producer, director, actress and a cancer advocate.
A daughter of Punjab, Namrata migrated to the US as a child with her family. When Namrata lost two aunts to breast cancer, the Indo American film maker realized she might be at a high risk. Then in 2008, when her daughter was nine, she got the dreaded phone call confirming she had breast cancer. Shattered at first, she decided to turn her harrowing experience into a positive action, by launching the film, " 1 a Minute" while she was still undergoing chemotherapy.
Mrs. Mohini Daljeet Singh said that the film which was co- sponsored by MIF as a global call to action was made to raise funds for cancer cure, promote awareness and prevention as well as support women survivors of cancer, with a focus on breast cancer.
Aware of the Foundation's passionate work in the field of cancer, she requested for a global sponsorship so that women across the globe could receive important information about the disease, informed Mrs. Singh. MIF came on board, collaborated with her for the film and conducted events around the screening of this film in India. With this partnership for a common cause, MIF sponsored the film due to our strong commitment to spread awareness about cancer, work to prevent, support underprivileged patients who need treatment, and provide moral support to patients and survivors, asserted Mrs. Singh.
Interestingly the film follows a woman’s journey through cancer, with a focus on breast cancer. At each stage of the woman’s journey, the film interweaves personal stories from twelve stars who are survivors themselves or those affected closely. Among these are actors Mumtaz, Lisa Ray, Olivia Newton-John, Priya Dutt the politician and Namrata.
Dr Chaturvedi said that Namrata example was a shining role model showing many women the light at the end of the tunnel.
Meanwhile during occasions, the cancer survivors enjoyed the event by participating it in as singer, poet and dancer. At the end of event during Bhangra show the survivors along with Namrata joined on stage to perform the Bhangra.