Mumbai: Learning that your child has cancer is heartbreaking, especially for thousands of families in small villages far away from the city. These families lack access to doctors or the necessary treatment to cure cancer.
They flock to major cities so their child can access the best charitable hospitals specialising in cancer treatment. However, once they arrive, as their child's treatment extends from weeks to months, they often run out of money and are forced to stay on the streets, leaving their child vulnerable to other infections. Unfortunately, many families give up hope and return to their villages, abandoning their child's treatment.
St Jude's India ChildCare Centres offer children with cancer and their families a free, safe, and clean place to stay in the city for the duration of their treatment. They provide holistic support and care along with accommodation, creating a 'home away from home' environment for families.
With 45 centres across 11 cities in India, they currently house over 500 families every day. But thousands are still left without accommodation.
It’s estimated that 32,000 children will require a place to stay. This overwhelming disparity between the high number of patients and scarcity of accommodation led to the film conceptualized by Ogilvy and produced and directed by Hungry Films. The film aims to raise awareness among the masses and drive donations to address this pressing issue.
The donations go towards building accommodation in every city, so that one day, no child is forced to abandon their cancer treatment because they don’t have a place to live in the city.
“When we got the brief for St. Jude India ChildCare Centres, we decided to avoid guilt-tripping our audience by directly showing children suffering. Instead, we wanted to tell an honest and human story, and that’s how we stumbled upon the idea of “The Impossible Choice.” A heartbreaking dilemma, if ever there was one. A big thanks to Mahesh Gharat from Hungry films for making this heart-melter, and a special shout-out to Ricardo from our team for writing this. We really hope that more people get to know about the fabulous job that the St Jude India team is doing and donate whole-heartedly for this life-saving cause”, explained Executive creative director Fritz Gonsalves and Ogilvy Mumbai group creative director Jayesh Raut.
“It is estimated that every year, over 32,000 families with limited means travel to larger cities for their child’s cancer treatment. Many of them are forced to abandon treatment due to the lack of an affordable place to stay. This is tragic since childhood cancer has a high cure rate, provided treatment is supported by a hygienic environment and proper nutrition. This film by Ogilvy India beautifully highlights the difficulties parents face in finding an affordable place in large cities and metros for their child’s cancer treatment”, said St Jude's India Childcare Centres CEO Anil Nair.
