MUMBAI: Emraan Hashmi’s family went through a dark phase when his son Ayaan was diagnosed with cancer at a tender age of 5. While on Sony Entertainment Television’s Kaun Banega Crorepati 11 for the Karamveer special episode with Purnota Dutta Bahl – who works to ensure proper nutrition for cancer affected underprivileged children – Emraan revealed how his son wouldn’t want to eat vegetables while taking chemotherapy sessions for seven whole months. 

Then, Emraan and his wife devised a trick to make him eat knowing Ayaan’s immense love for superheroes, especially Batman. “It isn’t easy for a child to take chemotherapy. Naturally, he would throw fits in hospital and throw things and refuse to have food, which was much needed at that time for his immunity. When all our tactics to make him eat failed, to finally make him eat, I would go out of the hospital room and meanwhile, my wife would save my phone number as Batman and change my display picture to that of the Superhero. My wife would give the phone to him and I would convince him to eat as I know he wouldn’t refuse Batman ever. That’s how Ayaan gained proper nutrition during his time in the hospital," Emraan said. 

Supporting  Purnota, Emraan Hashmi says, “First of all I would like to thank KBC for bringing real life heroes on national television. I have been following Purnota’s work since many years because my son was diagnosed with cancer five years ago, and later my mother too became a victim of the disease. A family is emotionally devastated when somebody from that family is diagnosed with cancer. My son Ayaan’s remission phase – during which the cancer might make a comeback – was a tough phase for us as we parents go through a lot of fear psychosis. The whole process is psychologically disturbing. While researching about the disease, I got to know that nutrition plays an important role in the treatment as the body needs a strong immune system while going through the treatment. Even after the medical treatment, we have to focus on follow-up care, which involves proper nutrition and the well-being of a person,  which has been the focal point of Cuddle foundation.”