Human Connection at SIO Part 2

My not-knowing-anyone status changed on day 2. As I made my way towards the stage, 10 minutes to panel discussion, I was approached by an SIO member. He said, “You must be Niyati” as he gave me the warmest hug,“I’m Santosh”. Santosh thanked me for sharing my story, and being here at the conference. I asked him if he had seen my TEDx Talk? To which the response was, “I’m the one that approved all the content for SIO.” I looked at his name tag and it finally rung a bell. Dr. Santosh Rao, oncologist, professor and president elect of SIO. He could’ve said I’m president elect… umm ok people don’t do that. He could’ve introduced simply himself as Dr. Rao. How do we teach humility like that? We were already on a first name basis. He did see my TEDx talk and it resonated, I felt ready for the panel discussion.

Post- talk, a fair number of people came up to me, I know I’m going to miss a few as I the encounters.

John Cho came up to talk to me about survivorship. He introduced himself as an oncologist. It’s only when I looked him up did I read that he co-founded the CCHC New Bern Cancer Center. Again, a lesson in humility. John thought, as did a few others, that being an author and speaker is my day job. I told him I’m an engineer, to which he said he was too! Who goes from a bachelors and masters in engineering to pursuing medicine and becoming an oncologist? I know of only one other such person with a bonkers path to medicine, our friend Nathan George from Peoria IL – Caterpillar engineer turned ER doctor. John and I spoke about life, family, and the work we are doing in field of cancer, mine of course is in no official capacity. We are now in touch.

Another unique connection I made was with Synphen Wu. I noticed her during the conference, she often came up to the microphone to ask questions. If you know me at all, you will know that’s my thing, asking questions. Synphen is a neuro-oncologist at Kettering Sloan. She was fascinated by the cultural bias associated with cancer and we chatted for a while. She shared a bit about her personal journey. Synphen gave me her email address (personal not work) and asked me to stay in touch. Even added that if I’m ever in NYC to visit her, which was really generous of her.

The only person I met from the homeland, was in fact from Mumbai! Ritu Lapsiwala and I spoke about knowing this stigma associated with cancer all too well. And while I was in conversation with Synphen, Ritu found me and got my cell phone number after which she promptly messaged me. We are now in touch and Ritu is graciously offering a second opinion to a friend (young mother) who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

I met a Pakistani couple and man from Afghanistan, both men named Mohammed. We had brief but wonderful conversations.

Lastly, during a social event that evening at Taliesin West while I was in the food line, a fellow homie jumped the queue to come talk to me. Or he used me as an excuse to get to the food faster, we shall never know. He thanked me for sharing my story and echoed that even as a second generation American he sees other Indians doing the same, hiding their disease and it baffles him. Viraj also dished some advice on staying physically strong i.e. strength training for better health long term. Considering I had just given unsolicited advice to a group of professionals in a field where I carry no authority… this was well deserved.

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation: An evening at Taliesin West

In those two days at SIO2022 my network grew exponentially. I was granted access to a subset of people that I would otherwise never have an occasion to interact with. I am thankful for the opportunity and humbled by the kindness I experienced.