Vijay Bhat

Our “Compassionate Caring” series brings caregiving tips and solutions from experts. Our 22nd webinar will feature Vijay Bhat as he discusses the concept of “Emotional Impact of Cancer: Insights for Caregivers”. This is an important part of caregivers’ psychological wellbeing. This webinar will be hosted by Bhavana Issar, from Caregiver Saathi.

Along with the emphasis on building immunity and physical wellbeing, there are now increasing calls not to ignore mental health. Understandably, stress and anxiety levels are high. To address this burning topic, Adgully brought together two very senior industry veterans – Gowthaman Ragothaman, CEO, Aqilliz, and Vijay Bhat, Founder-Director, Cancer Awakens, for a special conversation on ‘How to prevent burnout in a brave new world – Stress, Resilience & Beyond’. The objective of this webinar was to provide interesting insights and address the issue of stress, mental health and handling a crisis as we face a new world.

The inspiring story of one man’s relationship with his cancer and how it healed him . . . ‘You have cancer.’ These simple words come as a terrible shock. Life, as you know it, changes in an instant and nothing is the same again. Panic and fear overwhelm you as you desperately pin your hopes on doctors and on medical treatment. But this is only part of the story. While your doctors work towards healing your body, you must heal your inner self, just as Vijay Bhat did to beat his cancer. When he focused on himself, Vijay realized that his cancer originated within and only then manifested as a ‘tumour’ in his body. The authors believe that healing requires a ‘person-centric’ approach, where the focus is the whole person and all the aspects of his inner and outer life, rather than an ‘organ-centric’ one, where the focus is merely the disease or affected organ. According to them, cancer is the result of your physical lifestyle along with your mental, emotional and spiritual processes and the ‘stressors’ associated with these processes. For instance, negative thoughts and attitudes are mental stressors while negative emotions such as anger and guilt are emotional stressors. Healing these aspects of yourself is essential for physical healing. The authors guide you through your process of self-discovery, showing you how to find your stressors and teaching you how to recover from them. The book also gives useful information on the biological aspects of cancer and its causes; dietary and nutritional needs of cancer patients; how to maintain optimum immunity; how to confront loss and death; and the role of the caregiver. My Cancer Is Me is a thought-provoking and sensitive guide for anyone who has cancer or is supporting a loved one with cancer.