New Delhi, May 11 -- On May 4, 2022, Vidya Iyer awoke in a hospital bed with a drain protruding from her throat, an oxygen mask strapped to her face, and her husband and mother waiting anxiously nearby. It was supposed to be a day of joy-her mother's birthday. Cake had been ordered. But celebration gave way to silence when her sister's text arrived. "You have papillary thyroid carcinoma. They've removed your thyroid gland, the parathyroid gland and nearly 14 lymph nodes."

Iyer couldn't speak, but even in her voicelessness, her sister sensed the numbness creeping in. Iyer was only 33. A mother of a toddler. And now, a cancer patient. The surgery marked only the beginning. Ahead lay a labyrinth of radioactive iodine therapy, total isolatio...