Hi, I'm Abhinav Vallur, a 12th grader at Inventure Academy Bangalore. During my high school years, I developed an inclination toward the medical field, especially in the realm of cancer research. Midway through my senior year, I realised that my work relating to cancer needs to go across the confines of the lab. Cancer is a growing threat in India, one that impacted my family as well, which inspired me to create Sirona. Outside my academic interests, I am an avid track athlete, and I indulge in MUN and debate as well.
My Story
Working in cancer research labs, alarming statistics of cancer were something I had to see on a regular basis. However, I had understood the gravity of the disease long before I started my research. When I was 10, my mother was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Seeing my mother in a state of eternal fatigue and pain is a feeling that's almost impossible to encapsulate in words. I hated the feeling of utter helplessness, but I was somewhat hopeful since my mother had access to reliable cancer treatment. Luckily, we managed to screen for the tumor in the nick of time, before survival chances plummeted to a mere 20%.
As I became more involved with cancer-related research in high school, I learned that cancer treatment would become substantially less effective the later the cancer is detected. Therefore, my mother's detection of her cancer at stage 3 left me quite confused. Despite being from and educated background, with all the necessary healthcare facilities around her, we were not able to detect the cancer early.
Despite being able to work with it in a lab, I was still too afraid to view cancer in any form apart from the lens of a microscope. However, one day my mother shared an article about a village in Andhra Pradesh where cancer cases had spiked unusually. Delving further into the news, I found out that most of the cases were detected at stage 3 or 4.
If detection proved to be a challenge even for the higher rungs of society, what hope do the women have who are not only burdened by cancer, but shackled by poverty? And how would their kids even have a tinge of hope, knowing that their mothers detected the cancer too late to ever stand a chance? Not to mention, the treatment would be unaffordable for most of them.
This is what inspired me to create Sirona. I wanted to ensure that every woman has the chance to fight back against cancer, no matter her financial or social situation.