the pink smiles...


let them forever, be...

WOMAN...

An essence of life.
A whiff of fragrance, in different roles.

The unconditional love of a mother,
the affection of a sister,
the caring touch of a wife,
the warmth of a daughter.
Nothing else can match the purity of their love. They give a colour to our lives.

So let's put in all the effort we can, to keep them ever smiling, and to keep them away from illness. From Cancer. From Breast Cancer.

What is The Pink Initiative?

The Pink Initiative is a Mumbai based NGO working towards generating awareness about breast cancer in the lay man. Our Mission is just one - and a very simple one too - we want women to be cured of breast cancer, God forbid, if they do develop it. As crystal clear as that...

Why only breast cancer, you may ask, why not other cancers? Well, we have 87,090 reasons for that. Yes, you read it right - Eighty Seven Thousand and ninety! An estimated 87,090 women died of Breast Cancer in India in 2018! And a lot of those deaths definitely could have been prevented, had they come on time and took appropriate treatment. Breast Cancer accounts for almost 25 to 33 percent of all cancers in women all over India - cities or rural areas, young or old, Hindu or Muslim, rich or poor, healthy or not - Breast Cancer just doesn't discriminate (unlike humans)! But don't take our words, you can read on the situation on breast cancer in India by clicking here - Latest Statistics on Breast Cancer in India. Most importantly, it is definitely possible to detect breast cancer early - by being alert. Most other cancers cannot be caught early.

Though we are a very small group, we do try our level best to reach out as much as we can, to spread the message of awareness.

How do we work towards our 'Mission Awareness'?

If we want women to be cured of breast cancer, they must report to a doctor in 'early' stages of cancer. And to come in these 'early' stages, they must 'know' what breast cancer feels like or looks like - basically, they need to be 'aware' of the symptoms. So, to simply put it, we want to tell women that:

  • Breast Cancer is very much curable, don't be afraid of it

  • Breast cancer can be 'caught' early. All you need to do is 'educate' your brain and 'train' your hands.

  • If you have been detected with breast cancer, please trust the standard treatments of breast cancer. Millions of women have got treated and are doing perfectly fine, and so shall you. Cut out all the negativity

  • If you need help and guidance, we are always around!


We need to get the above message across to women. Especially in the younger age group (15 to 50), so that, they educate themselves and they can also take care of the other elder women in the family. The best way out is to use the power of media. So this is what we do:

  • We perform Powerpoint presentations on breast cancer awareness for large groups of women to educate them on breast cancer and on early detection. Since we are based in Mumbai, our programs are limited to the western suburbs of Mumbai.

  • During the month of October, the Breast Cancer Awareness month, we organize putting up of posters in all possible prominent places like colleges, shops, malls etc. for breast cancer awareness.

  • We manage Breast Cancer India, one of the most popular Indian websites on breast cancer.

  • We run the only existing and actively administered Online Support Group for Indian breast cancer patients. This online support forum has been online on Healthunlocked since January 2013 and by now, we have more than 2500 registered members.


Powerpoint presentations on breast cancer awareness are one of the best ways to reach out. Over the years, we have been invited to various places and organizations to give presentations on breast cancer awareness (in the adjoining photo, one is when we were invited to the Lok Sabha Employees Union and other is from the Shoppers Stop). We do the presentations where we get a sizeable crowd. The presentations are mostly image based (hardly any text), last for about 30 minutes and then for 15 to 20 minutes, we have a question answer session. Short and crisp.

Also you can see a sample poster (It's not he final one). All this and more can be seen in the section on our work and media.

GLIMPSE OF OUR WORK

PLEASE NOTE: Our website is undergoing a massive revamp with new sections, so most of them are not uploaded yet (Media, Work, Pink Diaries, Youtube) We should be done with them by the end of July. Presently, you can click the Early Detection and Online Forums, in addition to viewing this page. And of course you can contact us. We regret the inconvenience.



Our Work

A brief overview of how we conduct our powerpoint presentations on breast cancer awareness, and how does one reach out to the masses with a message. Accompanying are a few photos as well.

Our Work


Media and Pamphlets

We have created various A4 and A3 size posters as well as some pamphlets, on breast cancer awareness, with catchy slogans.. We have run breast cancer awareness campaigns on Facebook and elsewhere.

Media & Pamphlets


Breast Cancer Early Detection

An understanding of the few symptoms and signs of breast cancer and regularly looking out for them, is all that is needed to catch it early. This is called 'Breast Awareness'.

Early Detection of BC


Youtube Channel

Small educational clips by our doctors, making it simple to understand breast cancer and how to keep alert. Also featured are survivor interviews, showing the fighting spirit of these women.

Youtube Channel


The Pink Diaries

We always wanted to give a platform for breast cancer survivors to share their stories of courage and determination and how they fought cancer, which are definitely motivational for all.

The Pink Diaries


Online Support Group

Probably the only existing 'active' online breast cancer support group for Indian patients and their care givers. We have been running this since 2013 and have more than 2500 members.

Support Group

Our logo - A Butterfly


We had quite a few choices for the logo. The Pink Initiative, being a women centric organization, the choices narrowed down towards a rose and a butterfly. A rose always signifies elegance - a woman. But we were more drawn towards the butterfly, as it represents a freedom - in the true sense. A freedom from cancer, a heart free to move around. We would desire every woman to live a life free, of her own accord, without any pressure. Let her be free, like the butterfly. So here is a poem for them:

Every ticking moment of our lives
So incomplete without these pink pearls
They enrich our lives; in every walk of our lives
We feel their fragrance in different roles

A mother's love, so pure and unconditional, no power can match it
A sister's affection, so true and beautiful, all worries it can drain
A wife's love and care; her touch for her hubby so reassuring
A daughter's warmth and love; her tight hug can cure all pain

Like a little butterfly their heart wanders
Sowing happiness all around
And with their unfettering love and support
Even toughest times of our lives, easier they make sound

Let a smile always stay on their faces
Let them in an unending happiness always be
Don't ever let sadness touch them
Let their heart, like the butterfly, fly free

Our Team


DR. SUMEET SHAH

Dr. Sumeet Shah is a Surgical Oncologist, practising in Mumbai (SilverLine OncoCare), having done his Surgical Oncology training from the Tata Memorial Centre. He performs all major and supra major surgeries for solid organ cancers, his specialty being complete management of Breast cancer and Gynecological cancers. Apart from the surgical work, he arranges for peer groups for most of his patients. He authors the website on Breast Cancer in India and administers the online support group, for The Pink Initiative


UJWALA RAJE

Ujwala has undergone the journey of breast cancer twice - once, when her mother was diagnosed, and the other time, when she herself was diagnosed with the same. However, the tragic memories of having seen her mother succumb to cancer did not deter her even an inch and she bravely fought the illness. Her enthusiasm, energy and positive attitude never ceases to amaze all the doctors she has faced, in the journey. She is perfectly fine now, and continues her work as a freelancing Food Technologist for various food and Horeca Industries. Ujwala takes a very active interest in working towards empowering women with breast cancer awareness, and is the driving force behind The Pink Initiative's endeavours, by actively collaborating with various organizations to conduct presentations geared towards breast cancer awareness.


Together, Dr. Sumeet and Ujwala have conducted more than a hundred powerpoint presentations over last so many years, at various places - call centres, colleges, schools (for teachers), Groups like Lion's, Rotaract etc., local buildings, gatherings of women. They have been interviewed quite a few times on FM channels, on media. You can view the work they have done in 'Our Work' section. In addition, we get help from well wishers and volunteers. One of them is Mr. Rajendra Joshi (who is our Trustee as well), who has handled the entire administrative and background work for our NGO.


Our email: thepinkinitiative@gmail.com

Do you wish to donate to our charity?

Are you looking to donate to a charity working towards breast cancer in India? We do appreciate your thoughts to donate and we assure you, india needs every rupee of donation it gets, there are lots and lots of patients who cannot afford the treatment; many will be benefitted by your donations.

However, we wish to state that, we do not accept any donations from anyone (And as a consequence, we do not have a fund and cannot financially help anyone). The reason is, we are a small group of people and have not formed any formal links yet, to channelize donations towards the needy. Not that it is difficult, it can very well be done. But we wish to focus all our time on generating awareness on breast cancer, and just do not want to deviate from that aim. Whatever expenses we incur, we bear it from our pockets. The Pink Initiative is all about donating 'time'. By our awareness initiatives, even if one death from breast cancer is prevented (by early detection), our time was worth it. We do get lots of emails and requests for donations to us, and we do get overwhelmed by the faith people show in our work (it's our work which speaks), but unfortunately, as of now, we do not intend to accept any donations. We request you to look into other NGOs, there are many good ones around.