Anjali Roy (16) always dreamt of standing in the middle of a stage, basking in the glory of a thunderous applause, following her performance. She had always wanted to be a dancer. But in April 2013, her world came crashing down, when her parents took her to a hospital in Kolkata after her left knee started swelling up. Anjali was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer) when she was just 11 years old. She went through chemotherapy, but the aggressive tumour refused to budge and her leg had to be amputated eventually.
However, she never lost sight of her dream. Anjali drew inspiration from Sudha Chandran, who lost her leg in an accident and continued her career as a trained Bharatnatyam dancer with a prosthetic leg. Chandran’s 1986 biographical film Naache Mayuri filled her with the hope of reuniting with her true love — dancing.
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Sudha Chandran (Courtesy: Flickr/Emmanuel David)
Speaking to InUth, Anjali’s father Amit Roy, said, “We tried our level best to save both her legs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t.” Amit and his wife, Rita, were both anxious about the surgery and initially decided to keep Anjali out of the difficult conversation. Her attending physician, Dr Soma De, Deputy In-charge of the Pediatric Oncology Department, Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre & Research Institute (SGCCRI), intervened and advised the parents to break the news to her.
De said, “Before we told her that we need to amputate her leg, we asked her if she knew about Sudha Chandran. Then, we asked her to watch the film ‘Naache Mayuri’. I had called her dance teacher to watch it with her. After we finished the film, she asked, ‘Why are you showing this to me?’ So, she knew what we were up to.” Anjali observed how Chandran turned her life around and decided to resume her dance lessons following the surgery.
Inspiring her parents too, Anjali had the surgery in August 2013. “When she was younger, it’s possible that she was a little frightened, but now she has made peace with it,” says Amit.
Settling back in her old life wasn’t easy for Anjali though. When she was first about to be re-enrolled to school, they refused to entertain her, citing that other parents would stop sending their children to the school. “They thought cancer was contagious,” says De, adding that the real problem for patients starts after their treatment. “Children who have fought this battle shouldn’t live the rest of their lives with this stigma.”
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Besides dancing, Anjali also loves to draw and learn about Science and Maths. She is currently a class VIII student at Subhashgram Nabatara Vidyalaya. “She lost two years at school because of her illness. Otherwise, she would have been appearing for her board exams right now,” Amit says. Along with her schooling, she now performs at various cultural programmes, which has earned her several awards.
Besides dancing, Anjali also loves to draw
However, Anjali’s condition doesn’t really allow her to do Bharatnatyam, says her father. He says, “Because she has only one leg left, she’s not able to do pure Bharatnatyam. She tried a lot. Now, she does something which is a hybrid of Bangla classical dance.” Fortunately, that might change soon. Anjali is all set to receive a mechanised prosthetic leg, thanks to the efforts of an NGO called Kolkata Gives, which raised funds for the artificial limb. The NGO, along with SGCCRI, aims at rehabilitating children who have battled cancer.
Anjali will soon deliver another performance next month. Speaking about her unbreakable spirit, De recounted, “Back then, she told me, ‘Do whatever you want but make me cancer-free. I need to dance. And I will dance’. She’s one of our champions. We give Anjali’s example to all the new patients. She has done it and there’s no reason why anyone else cannot.”
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