THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was his tryst with television that saw actor Mukesh launching the Mukesh Foundation last year. And come Wednesday, the Foundation will unfold its major initiative, creating awareness about cancer.On that day, the Travancore Hall at Technopark would witness the inauguration of the Cancer Awareness Foundation, a joint initiative of the Mukesh Foundation and the Kerala Club in Detroit, USA. Adoor Prakash, Minister for Health, will inaugurate the same at the function, which will begin at 7 pm. “As a film actor, I got to see only the happy faces of the audience. But once I started doing TV shows, I got to know that there is so much sorrow around. First came the show ‘Kodeeswaran’ and now ‘Deal or No Deal’.“It was through the latter that I came to understand that there is so much untold misery and grief around you. Eventually, I wanted to give my bit to the society. And I was inspired to launch the Mukesh Foundation,” he said.Initially, the Foundation thought about helping the needy by providing cash. “But then we realised that it may not reach genuine hands. Also, there might be more deserving souls. Therefore, I decided to do something more meaningful.” And then he happened to interact with those behind the Kerala Club in Detroit which has a project that envisages to create awareness about cancer among the people of Kerala. “We decided to join hands with the Club and held a cancer awareness walkathon in Detroit in June. It was a successful attempt and we even got contributions.” Having interacted with doctors, especially those at Regional Cancer Centre, Mukesh learnt that nearly 15,000 new cancer cases are reported every year. “And according to the RCC Director, at least half of them could have avoided the situation, by way of early detection and awareness about the symptoms,” the actor said. The Foundation would like to reach out to the grass-roots level of the society. “Once we launch the initiative, we would carry out the awareness programmes with the guidance of the RCC. Our aim is to bring in more people; and for this, we would take the service of celebrities and artists as well,” Mukesh said. In future, the Foundation will be expanding its activities, he said. The programme at Technopark is being held in association with Natana, the arts and cultural club G-Tech, the group of Technopark companies. Dr Paul Sebastian, Director, RCC, will lead the cancer awareness session at the function. Former Minister M A Baby; Mervin Alexander, CEO, Technopark; V K Mathews, Chairman, G-Tech and executive chairman, IBS Group; Rosemary, writer; Suraj Venjarammoodu, actor; and Subin P, president, Natana, will also speak.
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