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My name is Neela. I work at a CSC.
I have almost put in nine years of service,
but I had a break of six to seven months because I fell sick.
When the radiologist told me that I had a tumour
and it's known as ovarian cancer,
I was half-dead.
They said that I had passed to stage four,
which is a very crucial stage from which very few people come back.
My colleagues and my managers were all stunned.
It was a heart-breaking day for all of us.
Though I was broken inside, I didn't want to put that on Neela
because if I broke, I felt she would break more.
So I thought, "No, I will stand tall. I can give her my support."
I told her, "Nothing is going to happen to you. You are strong."
They injected this fluid into me for eight hours.
By the third day, it was hell.
Everywhere in my body was painful.
By the third chemo session, all my hair had fallen out.
I had become completely bald.
It touches everybody - what a person can undergo.
People who knew her, people who did not know her,
everybody stood up to help.
We did some internal collections for her.
I needed blood donors and I was not getting any.
I needed blood the next morning.
Angela, my AM, brought three more donors from the office that evening.
Those guys came to donate blood.
We always told her, "The whole team is here with you. Nothing to worry about."
I was operated on and when they removed it,
it was almost the size of a coconut.
When I came back to my senses, the doctor said,
"Neela, I will tell you one thing.
"You should never have it in your mind that you had this problem.
"You are clear. It's all over. Everything has been removed."
I called up my office after the operation.
I told them what the doctors told me, what had happened.
They said, "Take full rest, recover and then we will take you back."
So all throughout the six, seven months somebody from the office visited her
and did what she wanted - like sitting with her for some time, talking to her.
Not talking about what she'd undergone. That's a closed chapter.
Something fresh.
Half the block had come to see me.
Then I realised I was so important. I was wanted so much.
I was so loved by everybody. Until then I didn't know.
I never thought people are so good that they could do so many things for me.
I got the certificate.
The doctors told me I was fit and fine and I could work.
It was only because of the support that I got from the people
who were working with me,
and the company at HSBC supported me through that.
It was a joyful thing when we saw Neela coming.
We hugged her and kissed her.
The whole team did. Neela is Neela...
My best friend, I would say.