World Rose Day 2022: History, Significance, Facts, How to Celebrate and More

Published: Wednesday, September 21, 2022, 11:50 [IST]

World Rose Day, the one dedicated to cancer patients and their caregivers, is observed every year on September 22. It is commemorated in the memory of a bubbly 12-year-old Canadian Cancer victim Melinda Rose who dedicated the last 6 months of her life to bringing joy and hope to cancer patients around her.

World Rose Day: History and Significance

The name Rose in Rose Day has been taken from the surname of Melinda Rose. She was diagnosed with Askin's Tumour - a rare form of blood cancer - with a survival expectancy of only a few weeks. It was her positive mission to bring joy and positivity to every other patient, and their caregivers, that kept her living for another 6 months - much to the surprise of expert doctors. She used to write joyful and inspiring letters and emails, and cite poems to cancer patients elevating their hope and fight to live on.

Fighting Cancer - the second deadliest disease in the world - is emotionally, physically and financially exhausting. World Rose Day is all about giving hope to, understanding the suffering of, and saluting the fighting spirit of cancer patients and their caregivers around the world.

How World Rose Day is celebrated

The world observes it by making positive gestures, like offering roses and other gifts, to ease the suffering of cancer victims. Patients are admired and entertained with greetings, quotes, messages, poems-and-songs recitation, dance performances etc. The main objective is to remind patients and their caregivers, that they are not alone in this battle against the deadly disease. The medical fraternity also uses the occasion to launch special awareness efforts regarding cancer.

How we can celebrate World Rose Day 2022

You can visit a cancer ward near you with gifts and positive messages. OR you can run a physical or social media awareness campaign educating people about cancer and ways to prevent it.

Sharing Facts on cancer, how to do early detection and diagnosis, and a list of organizations that can help financially will go a long way in the overall fight against cancer.

The thing is there is no full-proof cure for cancer and the treatments are quite tasking on the body, mind and bank balance. Your body and mind go through severe trauma during the treatments which are not guaranteed to save you. The disease ravages the lives of patients and their family members in more ways than one.

Cancer induces many negative changes like weight loss, lack of appetite, and change in appearance to a frightening level.

Facts on Cancer

What is Cancer?

The word 'cancer' comes from the Latin for 'crab'. Even in Hindi, it is called 'kark rog.'
Cancer is a lethal disease where abnormal cells grow uncontrollably destroying essential body tissues.
If not detected and diagnosed early, the chance of survival dips.
At least 1 crore people die from cancer every year in the world.
It can develop in any part of the body leading to various names and types.
As per one estimate, there are over 200 types and subtypes of cancer.
Every sixth death in the world is due to cancer, making it the second leading cause of death after cardiovascular diseases

Positive Facts on Cancer

Almost 50% of all cancer cases and cancer deaths are preventable with early detection and diagnosis.
There are 28 million cancer survivors in the world