Dr. S. M. Rezanur Rahman

Playgrounds in Mohammadpur echo with the shouts of children chasing cricket balls. Bruises on a young boy usually just mean he took a hard fall on the concrete. Parents rub a little ointment on the scraped knee and send him back outside. But sometimes those purple marks appear without any fall at all. A mother might notice her son looking unusually pale while eating his breakfast. A low fever lingers for weeks. Neighbors suggest feeding him more liver and spinach. When the bone marrow stops working properly home remedies offer zero help. Childhood cancer or blood disorders strike families like a sudden lightning bolt. Dr S M Rezanur Rahman carries the heavy burden of treating these fragile lives. He holds the massive responsibility of being the Associate Professor and Head of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. His medical foundation rests on an MBBS degree. He then dedicated his entire career to fighting childhood cancers and blood diseases by completing an MD. You will find him consulting terrified parents at Al Manar Hospital in Dhaka. Walking into an oncology ward drains the air from a parents lungs. They sit in the chamber holding their pale child tightly. Dr Rezanur Rahman changes that heavy atmosphere the moment he speaks. Leading a department at the biggest public hospital in the country teaches a physician how to handle pure panic. He examines the child gently. He checks the swollen glands in the neck and looks at the tiny purple spots on the arms. He orders specific blood counts and marrow tests to find the exact rogue cells hiding inside the body. Hearing a cancer diagnosis breaks a mother completely. A department head knows exactly how to deliver this news without destroying all hope. He grabs a blank notepad and draws a simple picture of the blood cells. He explains the chemotherapy process using plain words. He tells the family exactly how the medicine will hunt down the bad cells. He speaks in a very calm and steady voice. He assures them that children possess an incredible ability to bounce back from heavy treatments. Dragging a sick child across the border for treatment bankrupts a family instantly. Having the head of the national pediatric oncology department right in the city changes everything. The parents get a clear treatment roadmap locally. The little boy can fight his battle surrounded by his own relatives. Watching a brave child ring the bell after finishing chemotherapy is the most beautiful sound in the world.