Bhubaneswar: When Sangita Patnaik (55) was diagnosed with stage-II breast cancer in Dec 2024, her life went for a toss. A businesswoman, running a beauty parlour and lassi counter in the city, Sangita could no longer work for long stretches.The disease took away her appetite, sleep and even the strength to get through a normal day. But one thing it couldn’t take away was her zest for life and desire to help others. Somewhere between chemo, radiation and hormone therapy, she found a reason to look beyond her own pain.For a woman who loves to work, she couldn’t just sit idle during her treatment while also listening to the nutritional needs of her body. That is when she came up with the idea of making a protein powder, not just for herself but also for her fellow warriors who couldn’t afford costly protein supplements. For the past year, the Bhubaneswar woman has been making protein powder and other nutritious food items in her kitchen and giving them for free to poor cancer patients and survivors.“I felt everything inside me was burning. There were many sleepless nights, and there still are. But if I had just sat down, I would have gone into depression. So, I decided to channel whatever strength I had towards helping poor cancer patients,” Sangita said.A mother who has always loved cooking, she started experimenting in her kitchen with dry fruits, grains and pulses to prepare a protein-rich powder. What began as something she made for herself soon became an effort to help others. “During cancer treatment and recovery, the body needs protein to repair tissues, maintain muscle and support recovery. I learnt this from my doctors. But protein supplements are not affordable for everyone,” she said, adding she realised the importance of nutrition during treatment.“I know how difficult it can be for a poor patient undergoing chemotherapy,” she said.Sangita buys the ingredients herself, prepares the powder at home under hygienic conditions and packs it for distribution. Her son and his friends help distribute the packets at hospitals, old-age homes, orphanages and slum settlements.Someone who has always believed in ‘seva’, Sangita has been helping elderly people in unregistered old-age homes, providing residents with rations, clothes and other necessities.Sangita also runs a small kitchen where she makes pickles, papads, badi and other food products. A large part of the earnings goes towards the initiative. Her son and daughter, both engineers, also contribute to the effort, as do people who have learnt about her work through social media.For Sangita, the packets leaving her kitchen are more than food. They have become a way of making sense of the difficult year she has lived through. She said it is her way of fighting back not only against the cancer body but also the helplessness that often accompanies the disease. “I may not be able to do much, but whatever strength I have, I want to use it for someone who needs it,” she said.
