JEDDAH, 23 June 2007 — Dr. Abdul Shukkoor, who has several years of experience in Saudi Arabia and India as an oncologist, says that strong faith in God had helped many cancer patients to pull through treatment and beat the killer disease.

“Cancer has changed the lifestyle of many people and their families and has strengthened their faith in God and the life hereafter,” Shukkoor told Arab News.

“I know the case of a 35-year-old British woman of Pakistani origin. She recovered from breast cancer as a result of her strong faith and thorough treatment,” he said. “She is thankful to God for extending her life. Now before doing anything she keeps in mind her life after death.”

Another patient of the doctor, a high-ranking Saudi official, accepted his fate when he was diagnosed with cancer.

“God gave me this life and he can take it any time,” Shukkoor quoted the patient as saying. But the man did not live long despite his strong faith.

Having a terminal disease is one of life’s great equalizers.

“I have often thought about how life in the material world really doesn’t matter,” he said. “I recall seeing a cancer patient, a very wealthy man. A doctor told him not to drink water after he had undergone a procedure. The man was begging for a cup of water. He died shortly after with no kin present at his bedside.”

Shukkoor, who is from Erumely in Kerala’s Kottayam district, obtained his MBBS degree from the University of Kerala. He completed his training in oncology from Gujarat Cancer & Research Institute. After receiving his master’s degree in medicine from Gujarat University he joined the prestigious Tata Memorial Cancer Center in Mumbai.

His career in Saudi Arabia started at the Ministry of Health. He later joined the Department of Oncology at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center in Jeddah. Recently he has been selected for a fellowship in oncology offered by the University of Alberta in Canada. He has also attended international cancer conferences in Stockholm, Athens, Barcelona and Lisbon.

Shukkoor has played a leading role in the formation of a Cancer support group (Cansupport) in Jeddah, which aims at enhancing public awareness about cancer and providing social and emotional support to cancer patients and their families and relatives.

A nascent group, Cansupport has so far conducted three meetings with the participation of a large number of people including former cancer patients and their relatives.

Shukkoor said his interest in cancer treatment was sparked after his visit to the Christian Fellowship Community Health Center in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, as part of a study tour. The center provided health care to cancer, leprosy and tuberculosis patients. The doctor recalls a particularly profound experience at the Dindigul center when he was dressing the wound of a patient with leprosy.

“It was really horrible,” he said. “Before doing the dressing I removed about 60 worms from a single wound of that patient. This incident was a major turning point in my life as it made me humble. Removing 60 worms from the body of a living person. It was unbelievable.”

Speaking about cancer, the doctor said, “Anything under the sun can cause this disease.”

He identified benzene, paints, radiation, frequent sun exposure and food cooked over fire from charcoal or wood (which produces cancer-causing carcinogenic compounds on the burned or smoked surfaces of the food) as some of the elements that can cause cancer. He also blamed lifestyle, poor diets, stress, alcohol and smoking for growing cancer cases.

The doctor is not just a man of medicine and science, but also a man of faith. He says he’s proud of his Islamic values and believes that others share this view when they come to truly understand the essence of Islam and look at it without bias.

“It’s a divine religion,” he said.

As a doctor who has studied thoroughly about the functioning of a human body, Shukkoor ponders over a verse from the Qur’an: “O man, what has seduced you from your Lord Most Beneficent? He Who created you, fashioned you in due proportion and gave you a just disposition. In whatever form He wills, does He put you together,” (Qur’an 82: 6-8).

Shukkoor says a man should not get up from prostration without thanking God for His gifts.

“Nobody can create a human organ as beautiful as created by God,” said Shukoor while explaining the effort made by an American doctor to create an artificial eye.