​Milestones


2005, 15th February- For the first time in India, celebrated 4th International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD) at Appu Ghar; April 5 and 6 at Ansal Plaza an Exhibition of the photographs of the World Through their eyes – “Mera Jeevan Mera Drishtikond” . A Jazz Salsa evening launched the Adopt a Child for Cancer Treatment.

2004 - 2005- Cankids support services in 4 Centers – IRCH, AIIMS POD, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Apollo Cancer department, 
New Delhi. 100 children provided medical support. 

2005-2006- Launched our mascots Taklu – the cancer boy, Takli – the cancer girl and Kekadu – their pet - the cancer crab, as much a symbol of their cancer as their victory over the disease. Released 'Ritika', a booklet of the experience of a mother who fights for her child's life.

2006, 6th May- Kidscan Konnect – Group for teenage and young adult childhood cancer survivors and peers formed.

2007, 15th February – The 6th International Childhood Cancer Day – a March Past Extravaganza with 11 Schools participating in a grand march past. The event concluded with tricycles and bicycles being given to cancer children.

2006-2007- Formalized the You are Not Alone YANA Protocol under the Pediatric Emotional and Psychological Program. Launched After Cancer Treatment (ACT) Program to enable survivors to reintegrate into society as well as to provide them facilities for regular follow up with the Kumar children Fund. Pediatric Palliative Care project started with seed grant from American Cancer Society.  Organization 
structure redefined and strengthened. 

2008, 19th January- 1st Home Away from Home(HAH) @ Kotla , New Delhi generously donated by Cankids benefactor, Sh Vishnu Surekha, for 22 outstation families inaugurated.

2008,15th February - 7th ICCD celebrated 1st Women's Car Rally into Madhya Pradesh for fundraising for cancer treatment.

2008, 6th June -  1 outstation unit set up at Mahavir Cancer Sansthan Patna, marking the launch of the National Outreach Project.

2008,15th August – 1 National Childhood Cancer Scholarship (Award) Program launched in New Delhi. 6 children awarded scholarships. 

2008,19th November - President, Poonam Bagai was awarded the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award for outstanding services, achievements and contributions in the field of social services. 

2009,17th January – Voices for Hospices – global concert in support of Palliative care with AES School

2008-2009- Launched Treatment Support Program for nutrition, hygiene, blood support, documentation and accommodation needs of families. Gave medical support of Rs 82 lakhs to 507 children.

2009, 6th to 8th November- 3 day Pediatric Palliative Care Workshop in New Delhi.

2010 February- First ever National Childhood Cancer Survivor Conference in Delhi, in collaboration with AIIMS Pediatric Oncology division. 63 survivors from around the country came together for 2 days.

2009-2010- 3 new CSUs launched at KGMU Lucknow, Tata Medical Hospital Mumbai PGIMS Rohtak,; 2 new projects – Awareness advocacy and Treatment Support for Pediatric SCT and Child Life & Child Counselling Project.

2010, April to August – Very successful Summer Internship Program with 69 interns from India and overseas completing projects.

2010,10th September-  1st regional Office in Mumbai in the offices of Indian Cancer Society Parel , Mumbai.  

2011, 31st March – Under National Outreach Project ,network expands to 13 new units.
In Delhi : Safdurjung, R.P. Center;  
In Mumbai :  BJWHC –Wadia, BMC- Sion.  
New Partnerships :  GCRI, Ahmedabad - Karunakare.  
Total children registered under YANA 3930. Total children supported for education 250.

2012, 5th January– Decision and subsequent process of separating from Indian Cancer Society,Delhi Branch. Completed on September 30, 2012.
 
2012, 31st March-  Expansion to 28 Cankids Units across the country  from 13 in year 2010-11. 
Regional Offices in Kolkata (office space courtesy Management of CCWH&RI Hospital,Thakore Pukore) and Chennai ( office space courtesy Department of Pediatric Surgery, and Hospital - ICH (MMC) Chennai). Two new Pan- India Projects- Retinoblastoma Project with Sajeev Cankids Retinoblastoma Fund, courtesy Kanaka Sirpal launched in April 2011 and Wilms Tumor Project courtesy Gini Gulati and friends in March 2012.  Parent Support Group launched a Pan India initiative to set up parent groups in all Units – to empower parents as the “voice” of childhood cancer and to enlist them as patient navigators and volunteers.
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2012, 22nd April– Home Away from Home(HAH) named ''Sukritham'' @ Trivandrum, Kerala for 14 families.

2012, 12th June- Cankids Kidscan registered independently as National Cancer Society for Change for Childhood Cancer in India.

2012- delineated a whole new program area – Quality Care, Research and Impact (QCRI) – for the research and qualitative assessment and improvement of patient care.  

2012 - India's First ever Pediatric Palliative Day Care and Transition Home –10 bedded, 24 hour free facility headed by Palliative care Doctors and Nurses inaugurated.

2012 – Canshala – Taklu takli ki Pathshala, India's first special school for children with cancer in PPP with MCGM ( BMC Mumbai) as part of Jagannath Bhatankar Municipal School, Mumbai

2013, 15th March – 12th ICCD – Theme - Love Cures Cancer; Focus Early Detection Saves Lives.  Launch of Taklu Takli Hospital Dolls.

2014,15th February -  13th ICCD – theme Ghar se Door Yeh Shehar –Far away from my Home is this city where I come for my Cancer treatment. Focus – Access to Care. Celebrated across 25 cancer centers in 15 cities over 44 days , with the finale – Kailash Kher concert.

2016, 25th September…With a 1st ever cause related 3 day childhood cancer awareness exhibition adorned by Light It Up Gold Taj cut outs, "I deserve" posters and placards by childhood cancer patients and survivors, 1900 childhood cancer patients survivors and families visiting the beautiful monument, gold ribbons and pledges of support from tourists and supporters all over the world for childhood cancer to be a child health priority.

February 2017 : ALL Golden Crab Project was launched to facilitate MRD analysis for children suffering from B and T cell lineage and to facilitate training of interested hematologist and technicians in the science & art of MRD analysis at labs that are part of this project.

2017, 15th September......Cankids signs MOU with State Govt for Change for Childhood Cancer in Punjab. 

February 2018: Mumbai opened a branch of Canshala at BJ Wadia Hospital - Canshal Wadia, Mumbai. It’s the 1st Canshala at a Hospital.

18th February 2018: First PICC line inserted at Safdurjung Hospital, Delhi as part of PICC line study.

1st April 2018  : 100 Nurses Project  was launched with the objective to increase number of nurses working in treating units across country, to optimize the nurse to patient ratio to ensure better care for patients, to improve education and training of all nurses working in pediatric oncology units across India, to develop a pool of trained Pediatric Oncology Nurses & Pediatric Oncology Nurses Specialists and to have the Nursing Counsel of India recognize the training, curriculum  & certification.

April- December 2018: 7 New hospital partnerships started as Cankids Hospital Support Unit. Social support team increased from 80 to 112 at the end of the 2018.

April 2018: Launch of Change for Childhood Cancer in Maharashtra as a  5 year project .

11th June, 2018 – Cankids and Navya partnered together to provide online expert opinion and care plans to Pediatric Cancer patients. Patients will now get an expert opinion based on evidence and expertise in 1 to 3 days from Asia's leading experts through this new portal.


 17th- 20th June, 2018 : International collaboration held at Yangon Children Hospital - under CCI- , Myanmar. The collaboration was mainly  focused on Resource sharing (parent patient education tools and protocols developed by Cankids) and Technical expertise based on experience working in a LMIC’s Government hospital setting.​

8-9th September 2018: The 4th  National Childhood Cancer Survivor Conference 2018 with theme  “Today’s Survivors are Tomorrow’s Leaders” was conducted at the British School Auditorium, Delhi followed by the 10th Annual National Childhood Cancer Excellence Awards at the Airforce Auditorium, New Delhi. It saw Launch of GO Gold Warriors Fellowship through which each year 10 survivors will be benefited.

9th September 2018: In the 4th  National Childhood Cancer Survivor Conference 2018  the survivors’ project "Passport to Life (P2L)" was launched by Dr. V.K Paul , member NITI Ayog,  and a Petition for “Right to Education” for children faced with cancer was also submitted to him.

27th September, 2018- Under Go Gold Maharashtra through September – International Childhood Cancer Awareness Month- we succeeded in Lighting Up 4 monuments namely Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Mumbai, Gateway of India, Mumbai, Bibi Ka Makbara, Aurangabad and Shaniwar Wada, Pune.

The 7th Access to Care and Awareness Go GOLD Maharashtra Car Rally was flagged off across 4 of the 6 Administrative Divisions of Maharashtra from Sept 26th  to Oct 1st  2018 and drove 1500 kms.

12th October, 2018- Launch of “Say NO to PAIN”  campaign - a civil society nation-wide pledge campaign along  with the Charter of Demands with the aim to collect 100,000 pledges, seeking quality healthcare, early integration of palliative care services in hospitals and in the community from the government, drug controllers, health providers, physicians and palliative care specialists. Cankids in partnership with

Pallium India conducted Delhi’s first screening of Hippocratic -18 Experiments in Gently shaking the World – a film that documents the life and work of the father of Palliative Care in India Dr M.R Rajagopal, Padma Shri awardee 2018 & Chairman Pallium India.

16th  – 19th  October, 2018-  Cankids partnered with project Echo India for a pan India project to build capacities, improve care plans and care coordination through the technology platforms provided by ECHO.

16th  November, 2018 - Cankids Team of 6 participated in the 50th  Annual Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP 2018)  and the Childhood Cancer International Annual International Conference, for the cause of children fighting cancer at Kyoto, Japan where Chairman Cankids...KidsCan presented on ‘Empowering Childhood Cancer Survivors to manage late effects & long term sequelae through Digital Interaction& Technology.

19th November, 2018: At SIOP 2018, Kyoto Japan Co-Founder and Director PNFE , Cankids presented its unique model of empowering parents as Patient Navigators to produce better care for children with cancer in India.

30th November- 1st   December 2018 :Cankids together with 5 others NGOs conducted the 3rd PHOSSCON-Conference For Childhood Cancer Social Support Stakeholders as a part of 22nd PHOCON (Pediatric Hematology Oncology Conference) at Bengaluru , Karnataka.

November 2018:  Treatment Support Program conducted a study on "The feasibility of delivery of PPSN (Promote Protect and support) model for nutritional care in childhood cancer patients". The duration of the study is one year. The project aims to check the feasibility of delivery of PPSN model in childhood cancer patients and also to estimate the burden of malnutrition in children with cancer being treated at Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi, Northern India. The main hypothesis is that PPSN Model will help in the effective delivery of nutrition support to cancer patients.

18th-19th January 2019: 11th International SIOP PODC workshop on Nutrition in Children with Cancer was held at Cancer Institute (WIA),Adyar, Chennai.

19th January 2019 : 13 Cancer Survivors from KCK Mumbai Chapter raised funds through Tata Mumbai Marathon 2019 by participating in its Dream Run category so that “More children can survive to run more marathons”.

11th February 2019: CanKids signed an MOU with the State Government of Maharashtra’s Public Health Department and Medical Education and Drug Department, as their knowledge and technical partner for Change for Childhood Cancer in Maharashtra.

15th February 2019: International Childhood Cancer Day Celebration across our 58 CHSU's on the WHO mandated global theme of No Pain No Loss as a member of Childhood Cancer International.

23rd February 2019: 12th North India Pediatric Oncology Forum (NIPOF) was held at AIIMS Delhi on the theme Acute Myeloid Leukaemia & other uncommon Pediatric Leukaemia

March 2019: Treatment Support Program conducted a 3 year long study on "The impact of a 'Nutritional support team' in improving the outcome of childhood cancer patients" The study duration being was March 2016 - March 2019. The primary objective was to measure the improvement in survival of childhood cancer patients admitted in the pediatric hematology-oncology unit of KGMU, over a period of three years, brought about by a set of nutritional interventions by a dedicated nutritional support team, and to compare their survival with historical controls.

Today....
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In 14 years - 59 Cankids Hospital Support Units(CHSUs) in pediatric cancer centers across 22 cities; 7 CanKids Care Centres; 4 HAHs;1 Canshala Special school, 1 Reintegration Centre(Chirag), 1 Pediatric Palliative Care Centre; 25 Core Service Programs; 10 disease specific or treatment intervention projects; 4 regional Offices and a Headquarter in Delhi. In these 14 years,  since Jan 2004, Cankids has supported over 8000 children with cancer in India for medical treatment........ 

And the Journey continues............