Bengaluru May 14, 2025: An 11th-grade girl student from 10X International School in Bengaluru has launched an app that promises to redefine the way caregivers give support to cancer patients in India.
16-year-old Avani Radheshyam, hailing from a family of oncologists, has created OncoCaregiver, an app that offers a comprehensive support system addressing a critical but often overlooked healthcare gap in the country. While the journey of cancer patients is frequently in the limelight, the silent struggles of their caregivers remain unaddressed. Avani’s personal experience led to an innovative solution to this challenge.
Recounting how she got inspired to create this unique app for cancer caregivers, Avani Radheshyam said: “Both my grandmother and aunt were diagnosed with stage 2 cancer a few years ago. As my parents took on caregiving responsibilities, I witnessed firsthand the overwhelming challenges they faced: managing complex medical treatments, making difficult financial decisions, providing round-the-clock emotional support to the two patients, and navigating hospital systems, all the while trying to maintain their own emotional equilibrium. That is when the question struck me: Most innovations in oncology focus on cancer patients, but who is caring for caregivers? A cancer diagnosis changes two lives: the patient’s and the caregiver’s. Only one gets support, at least in India.”
Determined to change this, Avani pursued her idea during an internship at an oncology hospital in Bengaluru where she saw countless caregivers exhausted and emotionally drained. She conducted her own research through surveys with cancer caregivers across the city. It revealed alarming statistics about them experiencing severe emotional strain, including anxiety, depression, and fear about their patient’s survival. More than half had difficulty understanding complex medical treatments, leading to poor treatment choices. Majority of them reported feelings of loneliness and social isolation.
That’s when Avani realized that caregivers need support just as much as patients do. Thus was born the OncoCaregiver App as a one-stop solution in cancer caregiving. While most healthcare apps focus on patients, this app is specially made for caregivers, offering expert advice, mental health support, nutrition guidance, and direct access to doctors. It provides emergency help, wellness programs, and second-opinion services, giving caregivers the tools and knowledge they need to make their journey easier and support their loved ones better.
The app reduces stress, saves time, improves decision-making, and enhances patient care. It offers a dedicated cancer coach for personalized guidance on treatment plans, online therapy sessions with psychologists specializing in caregiver burnout, nutritional support from medical nutritionists for cancer-specific meal planning, a caregiver community chat for peer-to-peer support, a verified directory of oncologists for second opinion, and online yoga and meditation sessions for stress relief.
The OncoCaregiver app provides these services either completely free or at heavily subsidized rates, making support accessible to caregivers across different socioeconomic backgrounds. Services are offered free of cost to the rural and underprivileged, and workshops and awareness programs have been held for them to help connect cancer patients and caregivers.
Said Avani: “This app is meant to be a lifeline for millions of caregivers in India and worldwide. It empowers, educates, and connects, ensuring that caregivers are no longer overlooked but instead supported at every step. Caregivers are the unsung heroes of the fight against cancer—this app ensures they are never alone again.”
Since launching in October 2024, OncoCaregiver has supported more than 50 caregivers through various services, built an Instagram community of 1,000+ followers sharing caregiving insights, onboarded 15 student volunteers from various colleges and conducted workshops covering palliative care, nutrition, meditation, and art therapy. The website and app are now being developed in 9 regional languages for larger and rural outreach in India.
The app is available for both Android and Apple users.
https://play.google.com/store/
For more information, OncoCaregiver website (https://oncocaregiver.com) and Instagram page (@oncocaregiver).
