Cancer Care Support Fund by BRAC India - Saving Lives

When a family in India hears the word "cancer," the fear is not just about the disease. It is about the cost. Chemotherapy cycles. Radiation sessions. Medicines that run into thousands every month. Travel to a city hospital. Lost wages. Many patients simply stop treatment halfway because the money runs out. The Cancer Care Support Fund exists to make sure that does not happen.

Your contribution helps cover treatment costs, medicines, diagnostics, and hospital expenses for cancer patients from economically weaker families across India. Every rupee is directed through verified hospitals, pharmacies, and care providers. No one should lose their fight against cancer because they could not pay for it.

The hospital corridor smelled of phenyl and old files. Meena sat on a metal bench, her legs not touching the ground, her slippers dusty from the bus ride. Beside her, her husband Suresh held a plastic folder stuffed with reports – biopsy results, blood tests, and a scan film folded into a square. Neither of them spoke.

The oncologist had been kind. That was the worst part. He had been kind and patient and had drawn a small diagram on a piece of paper to explain what was growing inside Meena's breast. Stage two. Still treatable. Six cycles of chemotherapy. Then surgery. Then radiation. Then months of follow-up. Then he had written the estimated cost on the same piece of paper and slid it across the table.

Suresh ran a small tea stall near the bus stand. Meena stitched blouses at home for a local tailor. Together, in a good month, they made enough for rent, school fees for their fourteen-year-old daughter, rice, dal, oil, and the electricity bill. The number on that paper was more than they would earn in four years.

Meena folded the paper and put it in her pallu. She told Suresh they should go home. Maybe try some home remedy first. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe the reports were wrong. It was not a mistake. And waiting would only make it worse.

This is not one story. This is happening right now, in government hospital corridors, in district clinics, in oncology wards across India. Every single day. A mother hides her pain so her children do not worry. A father skips his radiation session because he cannot afford the bus fare to the city hospital. A young woman drops out of treatment after two chemo cycles because the family has already sold their small plot of land and borrowed from every relative they know.

Cancer does not check your bank balance before it enters your body. But the treatment does. In India, a large number of cancer patients come from families with no savings, no health insurance, no employer benefits. Daily wage workers. Small shopkeepers. Farmers. Homemakers.

For them, a single cycle of chemotherapy can mean choosing between treatment and their children's next meal. Radiation therapy, targeted drugs, surgical procedures, post-operative care, and months of follow-up medicines add layer after layer of cost that these families simply cannot carry.

And here is what makes it harder. Most cancer treatment centres are in cities. If you live in a village in Jharkhand or a small town in rural Maharashtra, you must travel. You must stay somewhere. You must eat somewhere. You lose the days you would have worked. The illness takes your health. The treatment takes your income. And the cost takes everything else. Many patients abandon treatment. Not because they do not want to live. Because they cannot see how.

This is where the Cancer Care Support Fund steps in. BRAC India created this fund for people like Meena and Suresh. For the father sleeping on a hospital floor so he can be near his child during chemo. For the elderly woman in a semi-urban colony whose family cannot afford her next round of medication. For the young man diagnosed at twenty-six who has his whole life ahead of him but no money for the first scan.

Your donation does not sit in an account. It moves. It goes directly to the hospital where the patient is being treated. It pays the pharmacy for the medicines prescribed by the oncologist. It covers the diagnostic tests – the biopsies, the PET scans, the blood panels – that a family could never arrange on their own. It helps with travel to treatment centres when the nearest oncology unit is three hours away by bus. It supports post-treatment care, follow-up visits, and nutritional support during recovery.

BRAC India works through verified hospitals, registered pharmacies, accredited diagnostic centres, and trusted care providers. The support reaches the patient where they need it most – at the point of treatment, at the point of need. Not as a lump sum handed over.

As real, specific, accountable support. Every donation you make to this fund is a decision. A decision that says – this person deserves treatment. This family should not have to choose between cancer care and survival. This patient's fight is not over just because their wallet is empty. Meena should not have to fold that paper into her pallu and walk away. She should walk into that treatment room. And you can help make that happen.

Donations are used to support cancer patients from economically weaker sections across India. Here is exactly where your contribution goes:

Hospital treatment costs: Donations are used to pay directly to verified hospitals and cancer centres for chemotherapy cycles, radiation therapy sessions, surgical procedures, ICU stays, and post-operative care.

Medicines and drugs: Donations are used to purchase prescribed cancer medicines, targeted therapy drugs, supportive medications, and post-treatment prescriptions directly from registered and verified pharmacies.

Diagnostics and testing: Donations are used to cover the cost of biopsies, imaging scans (CT, MRI, PET), blood tests, tumour marker tests, and other diagnostic procedures essential for diagnosis and treatment monitoring.

Travel and treatment access support: Donations are used to help patients travel from their homes to cancer treatment centres, especially when the nearest facility is in a different town or city. This includes transport costs and basic stay support during multi-day treatment schedules.

Post-treatment and follow-up care: Donations are used to support follow-up consultations, recovery medications, nutritional support during and after treatment, and rehabilitation where needed.

Childhood cancer support: Donations are used to support children diagnosed with cancer, covering paediatric oncology treatment, hospital stays, and family support during long treatment periods.

Every rupee is directed toward verified service providers. Donations are not given as unrestricted cash to individuals. BRAC India ensures that funds reach the patient through structured, accountable, and transparent channels.