Dr. Manu Dua - Life Interrupted: Dr. Duas Survival Guide

Life Interrupted: Dr. Duas Survival Guide

Written by Dr. Manu Dua
Copyright 2021 by Dr. Parul Dua Makkar

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Laurel Elite Books

1 Foster Place

Claremont, NH 03743

www.LaurelElite.com

Additional copies of this book may be purchased at:
www.LaurelElite.com

Front cover photo credit: Arti Panchal Photography

Book design: YellowStudios

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-7360587-1-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021914596

To Ma and Papa,
eternally grateful.

This book is a series of blogs which were written by my younger brother, Dr. Manu Dua. He wrote these as he battled metastatic cancer and was in the last stages of his disease. He was 34 at the time. This book is a testament of how he was more than the illness that took him. Manu put up a phenomenal fight. Cancer doesnt only affect the person who has it, but also the village that surrounds him/her. The suffering doesnt end when the person passes; the family suffers still with the loss long after. Sometimes its hard to travel this arduous journey alone. Others who havent been through it dont necessarily understand the anguish, even though they are supportive. I certainly didnt until I lost Manu. It was hard to accept and find happiness again. Time heals, and I try to give myself that time: time to let go of him, but not his memories.

This book is also a dedication to the unwavering love, kindness, devotion, and support of our parents. They are the pillars of our lives, without whom Manu and I could not be who we are today.

Manu was my younger and only sibling. His death still feels unreal, even though our family watched him suffer and fade away within two years of diagnosis. Manu started writing in September of 2020. In December that year, he and I talked about getting published. I asked him if he wanted to write a book on how he enjoyed driving because he was in control of the car, unlike his destiny which he couldnt control, and tie it to his blogs. He said no, he had no anger or loss of control due to cancer, but he had come to terms. He wanted this to be a series of blogs to share his experience and give some comfort to others.

Manu had a gift of writing eloquently. He was very verbal and open about his journey. This book was in the works during his last days. I would have liked him to see his dream a reality, but time was not on our side. Even though he isnt here today, I wanted to make this book to come to light in his honor.

These blogs carry a lot of insight, and may provide you some comfort if you or a loved one has experienced loss. They give insight to how we chase dreams for other people, trophies, or materialistic things, yet it may not bring us inner peace. How to be calm when the world falls around you, to acknowledge what and who truly matters in life, to find that precious reason and hold onto it. Life doesnt come with guarantees, and things dont go as planned, yet we muster the strength to carry on. Let go of fear and hold on to hope. After reading these pearls of Manus wisdom and resilience, I hope that you get a chance to reflect and maybe do some soul searching.

This is Manus legacy.

Dr. Parul Dua Makkar

June 2021

Hi, my name is Dr. Manu Dua. I would like to take the time to speak to you about my life story, which is not only remarkable, but almost borderline ridiculous insofar that it is hard to believe it is real. I do not believe any human being deserved to suffer so much in such a short time, but at the same time I am deeply grateful that I am still alive to type these words, and I have a deeply found appreciation for the meaning of life and what is truly important.

In the span of less than a year I have overcome multiple cancer surgeries, chemotherapy, cancer radiation treatment, learned how to speak again, how to eat, how to swallow and chew again, how to walk again due to a torn ACL. I lost some of my hearing, lost my taste for almost 4 months, lost my grandmother, lost a good friend, had my identity stolen, lost my business, and somewhere between all the pain and suffering, all the loss and despair, I found peace and happiness that I had never attained while I was healthy.

The irony in all of this is that as a dentist, I had the fortune and misfortune of finding my own oral cancer on two separate occasions, and without quick intervention and excellent care from a team of Surgeons and Oncologists, I would not be here to write these very words. I had no risk factors, never smoked, and hardly drank; I was just a victim of bad luck.

I had all my treatment for my recurrent cancer during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, and had to juggle the responsibilities of managing a dental practice and subsequent sale of said practice during the pandemic, all while undergoing cancer treatment and grieving for my grandmother who passed away just two days after my second diagnosis.

Just as things started to settle in my life and I was recovering from my second round of cancer surgeries and chemo-radiation in the summer, in mid-November as the pandemic raged on, I found out that a follow up scan showed that the cancer had spread to my lungs and outside to my bones. This was absolutely devastating, and meant that I had to find my resolve and fight the cells trying to destroy my own body for the third time. For most people, this would be an occasion to give up, but instead for me it was an occasion to put on the boxing gloves for a third round with this evil disease. The reason being is that I cannot predict the future and whether I will live or die, but what I can control is that I will never give up until my last breath.

It is my sincere hope that I may impart some of the wisdom I have gained from almost dying on multiple occasions to anyone who is going through their own personal struggles in life. I would like to share my story that even in the worst of times, and under the worst of circumstances, the human mind, body, and soul have a remarkable capacity to heal. We are more powerful than we can ever imagine.

Please read more as I go into detail on what can be described as nothing short of a surreal series of events.

Hope is one of the most beautiful things in life. We often dont appreciate its beauty until we are placed in ugly, difficult situations where all we are left with is hope. Hope is one of the few emotions that can make us or break us. To lose hope in life is to lose the meaning of life, for it is the spiritual fuel that guides us in this difficult world.

We all have differing concepts of hope and how it plays in our life: hope is an eternal carrot that is dangled before us, and it is healthy for it to be such a way. You see humans have always believed in something greater than ourselves. Some may argue that the pursuit of happiness is to seek meaning beyond our own selves. Hope provides us with an easy- to- grasp concept of something beyond, and the pursuit of such a concept provides us with the energy to pursue our lifes goals.