AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

        Hope is a strange invention

        A Patent of the Heart

        In unremitting action

        Yet never wearing out

                        — Emily Dickinson

        I find from today's newspapers that Dr.Shantha, Director of the Cancer Institute has been decorated with Padma Bhushan by the President of India for the outstanding work done by her for the last 5 decades in the difficult area of Cancer Treatment and Cancer Research. She has treated thousands of patients, cured more than 70% of them and by her work and example has been a beacon light of hope and relief to all the cancer patients in our country.

        Even as I was thinking of her work this morning, I immediately recalled my reading of an interview given by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958), the famous American mystery novelist and writer, in 1947 to Gretta Palmer a journalist. Both women were writers: One a feature writer for national magazines, the other a world-famous novelist. But the interview had nothing whatever to do with writing. Its purpose was to discuss a deadly malady that millions feared, a disease whose very name filled people with terror. Those who survived it were usually silent about it, preferring to keep it there own uneasy secret; and more often than not they lived in constant fear of its recurrence.

        But at that interview there was no such absurd secrecy. There was no squeamish hesitation to discuss what was clearly of vital public interest and importance to many people.

        'Yes, I had cancer', Mary Roberts Reinhart said—in a matter-of-fact way as though she was suffering from a headache or common cold. Her study room, a lovely book-lined room, in which she sat was the centre of a rich and busy life. The desk was covered with notes and pages of type script; she was just completing a new novel. The tea-table in front of her was spread with one dozen extra cups for the unexpected guests who usually dropped in at this hour. She was beautifully gowned, a woman of great charm and equipoise and of course amazing vitality. She was then at the height of her brilliant career as a world famous mystery novelist and she was enjoying life to the utmost.

        'And you are willing to talk about it, to tell others about it?' Gretta Palmer asked.

        So Mrs. Rinehart replied: 'I am glad to talk about it! This malady has been hedged about too long with the absurd believe that it is 'unmentionable'. Many cancer deaths are needless are caused by fear, silence, delay. If my experience can be helpful to others, if it can give them the courage to meet the challenge of cancer in time, and to take up their lives again without the constant worry and fear of recurrence well, I have no right to be silent.'

        Gretta Palmer's pencil was busy as Mrs. Rinehart spoke these words. Here was a vital message for all cancer patients, not only in America but throughout the world: a wise warning to face danger in time. Here was living proof that cancer is not necessarily a death sentence, that it can be cured if caught in time and that life can go on a rich busy, zestful life such as Mary Roberts Rinehart enjoyed.

        Face your danger in time. That was the gist of the inspiring message Mrs. Rinehart gave her interviewer that afternoon in 1947. Face your danger with courage and faith, and the will to survive. Here is the full text of her message: 'In days as worrisome as these, nothing belongs to us alone. Even our sorrows cannot be horded; even our private sufferings should not be withheld. I do not know why cancer should be considered a more disgraceful malady than whooping cough or stomach ulcers. I don't know why any sickness should be considered shocking. But if it is disgraceful to have cancer, then I am thoroughly disgraced in the eyes of my family and friends. I had cancer. I discovered its presence early. I was completely cured of it. And I have never made the slightest secret of this fact. It was unpleasant and —yes, dramatic. This cancer business was an emergency, for which I had to gather all my forces. It had in it many distressing elements; it would not be truthful to say that a cancer operation is a trivial thing. It is a serious occurrence to know that you are suffering from a disease of which many thousands of men and women die every year. And recovery often involves for the patient a complete mental and physical re-education.'

        'But I contrast my cancer operation with other experiences in my life and I see that my cancer operation was by no means the worst experience I have ever had. It wasn't as soul-shattering as people think. Look at me: do you think my life is ruined? No. There is nothing for the Modern Man or Woman to fear about most cases of cancer. Nothing except delay!'

        Mary Roberts Rinehart was operated upon for cancer in the spring of 1936. In the autumn of the same year she began writing a new mystery novel, 'The Wall'. In 1937, she went to England for the coronation of Edward VIII. She traveled widely and wrote extensively. She lectured, entertained, kept up with her old interests and launched many new ones. She became busier and more successful than ever before in her life. She considered her 58th book completed and published in 1947 'A light in the window' as one of her best novels.

        Her novels have been compared with the works of Agatha Christie. For the rest of her life she was never out of harness. Her operation was a distressing experience, but not a devastating one. It would have been so easy for her to give up, to stop writing and rest on her laurels. It would have been so easy to slip into self-pity, to become a worried and perhaps embittered half-invalid. But she was a woman of great courage. Her tremendous will to live and to carry on her work, protected her from such distressing aftereffects. She refused to think of herself as doomed refused to give in to fear or despair. Her cancer had been discovered in time. When it was removed, she was ready and eager to take up where she had left off. In this context, to conclude in her own words: 'Every crucial experience can be regarded as a setback or the start of a new kind of development'.

        When Mrs. Rinehart's story appeared in print, it was eagerly read and discussed in all parts of the western world. It gave courage and hope to all cancer patients and helped them to face their danger in time. Her words have an inspiring impact on all of us; in every distressing problem of life that calls for courage and endurance, we can derive inspiration from her words.

        When she died in 1958, she was buried in Arlington Cemetery in Washington, an honour given only to outstanding Americans. Here are a few outstanding quotations from her novels and other writings

        'A little work, a little sleep, a little love and it's all over.'

        'I hate those men who would send into war youth to fight and die for them; the pride and cowardice of those old men, making their wars that boys must die.' (at the time of America's entry into World War I)

        'The great God endows His children variously. To some he gives intellect - and they move the earth. To some he allots heart - and the beating pulse of humanity is theirs'.

        Mrs. Mary Roberts Rinehart's living message to us all is to keep our fears to ourselves but share our courage with others. The following lines of poetry sums up her life and philosophy.

        Never give up! If adversity presses,

        Providence wisely has mingled the cup,

        And the best counsel, in all your distresses,

        Is the stout watchword of NEVER GIVE UP!