A Life Is Lost, A Dream Is Born
Just over 31 years ago, in a leafy and affluent suburb of a third world country, a young man sat at the bedside of his mother. She was dying. Bereft of peace, and in a painful silence challenged by little other than the muted conversations of family, he sat day after day, forced to acquaint himself with a consuming helplessness; a feeling previously unbeknownst to him.
The best that his fame, money and influence could provide for her was a private hospital bed and pain relief. So he watched insufferably, what should've been a treatable cancer, force its way through her precious body claiming it slowly and relentlessly. The analgesia may have eased some of her pain, but for his, there was little remedy.
One day, as he sat in the hospital specialist's waiting room, an elderly man walked past him. The young man instantly recognized the pain on this passer-by's face as that of his own. Dressed in a tatty conditioned native dress that told the story of a hard day's work, clutching a pristine piece of paper tightly in his right hand, the old man approached the doctor's assistant with a hopeful urgency and passed the paper to him.
After the exchange of a few words, followed by a moment's silence and a gaze lowered to the floor, the poor man walked away with a look that could only be described as extreme desolation. The young man later learnt that despite laboring from dawn to dusk on a nearby construction site, this poor man who had left his home in the North West of the country, could still not afford pain relief for his cancer ridden brother who lay in the corridor due not having a bed. The helpless look on his face continued to haunt the young man whenever he saw his own mother steal a few moments sleep from her pain.
Many more unwelcome and sombre days passed in sadness and solitude. A few weeks later, the world lost a loving, kind and courageous mother. Shaukat Khanum was no more.
Time stops for nobody. Life had to move on, and so it did. It was three years later his painful memories compelled him to revisit his dream of creating a cancer hospital in his third world country, offering free and lifesaving treatment for the poor. A thought that had been previously either doubted or ridiculed by family, friends and professionals alike. This was hardly surprising in a country with only three oncologists, and a previously failed attempt by the government to do so. But this time he would listen little to the opinions of family and friends, and called together twenty of the best doctors of the city, presenting them with the idea. Much to his dismay, nineteen out of the twenty doctors immediately dismissed it as impossible. It just couldn't happen. The one doctor that didn't, then shared that even if such a cancer hospital was in the slightest possible, it would be impossible to treat the patients for free.
He reminded himself of the old laborer in the hospital, as he walked out of the board meeting broken and demoralized. His dream may have even stopped here, if it wasn't for the fact that his friend had prior to this talked him into using his celebrity status for a fundraiser in Dubai, from which he had raised $20,000. The project had also been announced publicly. Despite no hope whatsoever, and even his own doubts, there was no way he could turn back.
Chasing Rainbows
The next few months were dark and testing, scattered with closed doors, discouragement and even insult. It was after much despair that he eventually stumbled across the medical breakthrough he so desperately needed in the form of a distinguished professor. For the first time he felt as though the dark clouds had been lifted from above his head, allowing a ray of hope to finally shine through.
He could at last focus on the fundraising needed to make the cancer hospital a reality. This was easier said than done, considering the project would eventually need tens of millions of dollars to start functioning. In fact, many would say only a mad man would have dared to have even dreamt this was possible, especially in a third world country like his.
Another year and a half passed by. Having saturated his celebrity status for fundraisers, the honeymoon period had come to an abrupt halt and the project had hit a major donor fatigue. People around him advised him to throw in the towel once again, even suggesting opening a pharmacy or a primary care facility instead. But for him it was, and had always been, all or nothing.
He now found himself having to grovel to journalists whom previously as a celebrity he had refused to even meet with if they had written a word against him. He was made to endure long periods of waiting, no short of humiliation, in the lobbies of businessmen who saw his time of need to settle their old scores. For a man who had always been self-sufficient, proud and extremely selective about who he associated with, having to go out and ask for money was no less than painful. But there was little choice when the funds were under two percent of that required to even allow construction to commence.
Even after stepping down from his pedestal, he was hopelessly distant from the millions of dollars needed. This time it was his sister who gave him the ingenious idea of utilizing the love and support of perhaps the most passionate of fans he had across the country: children.
With the incentive of personally signed memorabilia from their biggest hero ever, children launched themselves into a sponsorship frenzy. He traveled to schools across the country. Soon, every mother, father, teacher, aunt, uncle and neighbor had been hounded by children for sponsorship money and it wasn't long before the cancer campaign had become a household name.
The overwhelming success of this campaign allowed the construction of the hospital to take off. But is still wasn't enough. In a country where there were many currency units to the dollar, raising over 20 million dollars had started to look almost impossible to the man who had always refused to have this word anywhere near his dictionary. But his determination would soon reap a different and most magnificent reward.
He soon made history by leading his country to worldwide fame by captaining his team to win the prestigious World Cup in a sport which his nation loved as much as they loved themselves. Following his team's victory he was able to raise over 2 million dollars in six weeks, an absolutely monstrous amount of money that it had taken him two grueling years to raise previously.
Now eight years had passed since his mother's death and five long years since he had started to work on his plans for the hospital. Despite one huge test, effort and triumph after another, the Chief Executive they had hired from a well reputed foreign company informed him that even if the hospital was to finish construction it would be forced to close down after a few months if it treated poor cancer patients for free or a fraction of the cost.
He dismissed the Chief Executive. He had come too far now to be told it wasn't possible. So far everything that wasn't possible had become possible. Something was making it possible and he believed that that something would only stop when his dream had become a reality. So he waited, and anticipated, as the last idea, and perhaps the most magical, made its way to him.
Verily, With Every Hardship Comes Ease
A short time has passed. His friend was convinced his idea would bring in the funds needed for the hospital to finally open. The young man now in fact a middle aged man, wasn't so sure. Of all the sophisticated ideas that must have been out there, for his marketing specialist of a friend to suggest a mass contact campaign seemed somewhat unconvincing.
On learning it would mean driving around the country in a heavy goods vehicle acting as a charity box seemed even more awkward. But reflecting on the other means of fundraising and how they had proven to be so bizarrely successful at times, he did was he was told, and off they set to test the hearts of their nation.
Following his mother's death, the journey of making the hospital and developing his faith had gone hand in hand and he was no longer the unapproachable and non-charitable person he had once known himself to be. What he saw over the next few weeks as he took to the streets of twenty seven cities across the country melted his heart, many a time penetrating his firm composure.
He would have to fight back the tears as he saw people who didn't know where their next meal was coming from, running up to him to give him their pennies. Women threw down their golden jewellery from the windows and at every corner he turned people of ages and backgrounds stood waiting for them jubilantly to add to the collection and goodwill of their neighbors.
Before they knew it, the tour was over. He was absolutely overwhelmed. They had done it. His people hadn't let him down and had now donated enough to finally make his dream a reality. What a beautiful nation.
On December 29th 1994, after having rejected requests from many hopefuls including the Prime Minister, it was ten year old cancer patient Sumera who cut the ribbon at the jubilant opening of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre.
He could barely believe it. It was the most fulfilling moment of his life. Ten years on from the passing of his mother Shaukat Khanum, his dream in her honor had become a reality by the will of the almighty through the goodwill of the people of his country and across the world.
To date, this mini miracle of a hospital run on donations has spent over 243 million dollars philanthropically, with almost a million chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgical treatments provided to its patients, 75% of who receive free treatment or financial support in a country where there is no such provision provided by the government, and where patients would have been left to die with treatable cancers. Just like his mother was.
Still to this day that young man, now in his early sixties hasn't forgotten the face of the elderly laborer who couldn't even afford pain relief for his poor brother who lay in the corridor. Twenty one years after the first launch, he is now building a Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in that very man's home region and is now looking to you for your help in saving countless lives. He is looking to you once again to make the impossible possible by the love, good will and hope that knows no barriers of color, caste or creed and throwing in whatever you can into that basket once again.
The value of five dollars, five pounds or five of any currency is worth more than five million if it helps this hospital to work its magic once again. No amount is too small, remember, in the end it was the few pennies of the poorest of the poor which finally allowed the hospital to open its doors.
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"It always seems impossible until it's done" - Nelson Mandela
The above is an account of the making of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre retold from "Pakistan, a Personal history" by Imran Khan, and has been retold with permission. The statistics have been taken from the offiicial website below. Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre is a state of the art institution and has maintained its reputation as an incredibly respectable and efficient organisation, winning national and international awards of excellence including from the World Health Organisation. Investing in the future, it is also spending its time and efforts into cancer research. To read more about its work, please visit: