Angels Of Pune: Breast Cancer Survivor Shweta Karpe Takes Awareness Beyond Cities Into Rural Communities

Pune: Three years after being diagnosed with stage four breast cancer, Shweta Karpe has turned her personal struggle into a mission to educate women about the disease. Through awareness campaigns, interactive sessions and one-on-one conversations, she reaches out to rural women, students and community groups, highlighting the symptoms of breast cancer and the importance of timely detection.

Her journey towards diagnosis was difficult. Despite consulting several doctors over nearly a year, the cause of her symptoms remained unidentified. Her experience exposed the gaps in awareness that can leave people struggling to understand changes in their bodies.

“I was only around 27 then. I went to multiple doctors, but nobody was able to figure out what exactly was happening to me. I had scars on my breast and other symptoms,” she recalled.

The diagnosis prompted her to research the disease and reflect on how limited awareness had affected her own experience. She began thinking about people who have fewer educational opportunities and limited access to information and healthcare, particularly those living in rural areas.

“Even now, I am educated, I work over the internet, I work with people, and I am an engineer and an MBA graduate. Still, I was unaware. When the doctor told me that it was breast cancer, I started doing research. I realised that I had experienced the symptoms, but I had simply relied on doctors,” she said.

This realisation encouraged her to take her experience beyond her personal recovery and help others become more informed about the disease.

“If this is the condition of an educated person who has resources, what would be the condition of people in rural areas with limited resources and educational facilities?” she said.

She does not work through a formally established organisation or a dedicated team. Instead, she conducts awareness activities independently, depending on her availability, and connects with breast cancer survivor communities that help her find opportunities to speak to different groups.

Over time, she has conducted awareness activities for organisations in Pune and Delhi, as well as in rural communities and among students. During visits to rural areas, she meets local residents and asks them to gather women so she can speak to them about breast cancer. Her work includes organised campaigns and individual conversations, allowing her to reach people in different settings.

Through these efforts, she estimates that she has reached approximately 1,000 to 1,500 people. Opportunities often come through survivor networks on WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Instagram, as well as through friends, relatives and well-wishers who know about her journey. The hospital where she received treatment also has a survivor community through which she connects with others.

Her sessions are often organised around occasions such as International Women’s Day, Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, International Survivor Day and World Cancer Day. Survivor communities and other groups invite her to speak during these events and help spread awareness.

She also recognises that breast cancer can be a sensitive subject, with some people uncomfortable discussing a condition affecting an intimate part of the body. She therefore respects participants’ privacy and the confidentiality of the campaigns, particularly when women do not wish to share their experiences publicly.

For Shweta, awareness remains central to this work. By sharing what she learnt through her own diagnosis and recovery, she hopes to make conversations about breast cancer easier and encourage women to pay attention to symptoms and seek timely medical evaluation.

What began as a difficult and uncertain chapter in her life has become a continuing effort to ensure that others have access to information she wishes she had received earlier. Through her independent outreach, she is working to make breast cancer awareness more accessible, particularly for women with fewer opportunities to learn about the disease.