Have you ever thought of achieving something big? Something much bigger than you, your resources, and your approach? Something above and beyond your horizon? Or, perhaps you are afraid of such dreams. Perhaps you have the fear of not being able to bring it to reality.
How about talking about a dream that has already been accomplished? A dream that was also beyond the understanding of every single person of the time.
It’s a true story that has been heard and told many times but usually, only its ending is talked about. Today, we are going to go through the entire journey of this dream, the different levels of difficulties it faced, and of course, the mindset of the dreamer.
The Origin of A Dream
It started with the tragic death of a woman, Shaukat Khanum, who died of cancer in 1985. At that time, her only son, Imran Khan, was playing cricket for the national team of Pakistan.
Khan had seen her mother suffering and fighting against cancer. This made him think of other poor cancer patients who have to go through immense pain as well as financial troubles. He realized that it would be extremely hard for poor patients to afford cancer treatment, and so, he decided to build a cancer hospital for them.
The plan was to build a cancer hospital with all the diagnostic and treatment facilities and then offer free treatment for up to 70% of the poor patients.
Difficulty Levels of The Project . . .
The project needed 700 million Pakistani Rupees before the patients could start getting treated. At that time, this was a huge amount of money. Of course, Khan couldn’t build it all alone. So, it was quite clear that the hospital needed donations.
But how could he collect such a big amount when he was just a cricket player?
Remember… he thought of building the hospital before winning the cricket world cup for Pakistan. Also, he was the captain of an ordinary cricket team, which had never won any world cup yet.
At that time, the population of Pakistan was about 92 million (now it’s more than 220 million). There was also no social media and no private TV channels. National TV channels could only show cricket to those who had TV because, in the late 80s, not every home had a TV. Newspaper was another source but it was also limited to big cities.
So, with a little bit of exaggeration, we can say that out of the 92 million people of Pakistan, probably only a few hundred thousand people knew Imran Khan. At the most, it could have been a million.
This means that Khan was known to fewer people compared to the average anchorperson of our present time.
It’s unbelievable for us to imagine that at the time when Khan decided to build the hospital, he was known to fewer people compared to our present social media stars, who have millions of followers.
How can someone with no money and no public fame even think of building a hospital that would cost 700 Million Pakistani Rupees?
And why would someone even support this idea?
How Many People Could Support His Dream?
When we think of doing something new, we often start by discussing it with our friends and family members. If their feedback is positive, we get the courage to take the initiative. But if many people disagree with our idea, then we also change our minds.
Since Khan was a sportsman himself, he was able to set a meeting with 20 medical professionals for advice and probably some guidance about the hospital. All of them disagreed with Khan’s idea. Only one said that Khan may succeed in building the hospital but it would be impossible to run it on charity because the treatment for each cancer patient would cost millions of rupees.
Well, if medical experts rejected his project, probably friends and family would have said no for sure. This means that the hospital was perhaps supported by only one person and that was Khan himself.
How do you feel when everyone is against your idea? When there is no one to tell you that you can do it? When all the circumstances and ground realities are against your project and almost everyone thinks that you are probably crazy?
Well, this kind of project is called a dream and the person who chases such ideas is a dreamer.
The Beginning of the Journey . . .
Despite the suggestions of the medical professionals, Khan went ahead and announced his dream to a huge crowd after a match in Ghaddafi Stadium, Lahore, in November 1989.
He asked the people for donations to build the cancer hospital. It was his first public announcement and this raised about 3 million rupees.
Khan had played cricket in Britain for 10 years and as captain of the national team, he was known to many overseas Pakistanis including in Australia, Britain, the USA, and the middle eastern countries. His connection with people living abroad helped him collect a good amount of money by arranging donation events. However, it was still not enough.
The Hope
Luckily, World Cup 1992 was coming and Khan was the captain of the Pakistani cricket team. As such, there was a chance that if he won the world cup, he could get famous, reach even more people, and collect even more funds to build the hospital.
Guess what? Pakistan won the world cup after all! Khan did become famous and people did collect a lot of funds. But it was still not enough, despite the fact that Khan donated all his prize money which was 85000 pounds.
Moment of Disappointment !
How do you feel when you try your best and the result turns out to be the opposite of your expectation? How do you feel when even the biggest victory of your life is not enough to help your dream project?
Just imagine yourself in this situation: you have been telling everyone that after winning the world cup, building the hospital is guaranteed. Everyone tried to donate a lot more and many might have contributed several times since it’s been already three years since the first announcement.
It was probably at this time that Khan might have thought that perhaps those 20 doctors were right.
It’s easy to reject people’s opinions and advice before working on your project but it’s almost impossible to behave strongly when the circumstances prove them right.
You can probably convince others for your project with your strong imaginative powers but how can you deal with the situation when the results prove you wrong?
This is perhaps the most sensitive time for a dreamer. Most people give up at this stage of their project and many look for shortcuts or an escape. Your mind might even convince you to agree on something less than your dream.
So, how do you save your dream?
How To Fight For Your Dream During Setbacks?
Remember one thing: You are not fighting against people or situations but you are always in a war with your own mind. It’s your own mind who will try to defeat you and you can only fight your doubts when you come up with a clear understanding of your situation.
So, here comes the Solid Clarity.
Your dream is your creation, it’s your imagination, and nobody knows what it looks like. For you, other people’s opinions or advice may seem like doubts. But it doesn’t mean that they are wrong or that they want to stop you. The truth is that one mind actually can’t precisely understand the true picture in other people’s minds. As such, their dreams might look like castles in the air. They might appear disconnected from reality.
But it never means that you are wrong. You are not crazy… you are just a dreamer. And a dreamer believes in their dreams. Their powers of imagination are stronger than other people’s doubts and ground realities. People will only understand you and your project when you bring it to reality.
As the great Nelson Mandela once said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
Throughout history, all big dreamers faced similar problems, including the first man who thought of flying in the air, the man who thought of making the first bulb, the man who thought of the radio, and many more. They were not crazy but still, their ideas were opposed by everyone around them.
Khan didn’t think of spending the millions he received from donations on something else. He is not like most of us. He doesn’t know how to give up. He never let doubts stop him… not even for a single second.
And so, he came up with a brilliant idea to fight during the crisis.
The Happening…
Khan decided to go into the street and ask for donations directly from the public.
A superstar who is not available to everyone and who can’t be reached without an appointment, a person who graduated from Oxford, and is actually a celebrity after winning the world cup for Pakistan…. such a person finds himself on the streets asking for donations personally. It could be that Khan sacrificed his ego or perhaps he never had any to begin with.
Khan began his tour from the streets of Lahore and traveled all over Pakistan. It took two months for him to visit almost all the big and small cities of the country.
People were amazed to see their cricket star walking with them in the streets.
When they saw a superstar asking for money, going restless in the poor streets, sleeping among ordinary people, and trying to fulfill his only dream to build a hospital for poor patients, they probably realized that this man is not going to stop.
Something astonishing happened during that time. The people started giving up on their doubts and began to believe in his dream. The powerful dreamer managed to melt the hearts of everyone around him. The ordinary people began to own his dream.
Everyone started to ask for donations for the hospital. And people helped him in the best possible way. Even poor people contributed out of their food, women donated their jewelry, many gave up their life savings, and even kids donated their pocket money.
It took two more years after winning the cricket world cup but the unbelievable dream finally came true in December 1994. People witnessed something close to a miracle. The door which never existed was forced open once and for all. A charity cancer hospital by the name of Shaukat Khanum came into existence.
Final Words
This story was not about the hospital. It was not even about Khan. It was actually about a dream. The dream which was believed to be unrealistic, illogical, and irrational became the reality. There is a cancer hospital, there are all cancer diagnostic facilities, there are medical professionals working in the hospital, and cancer patients are getting treated and recovering.
It’s been 26 years that Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital has been treating 70% of poor patients for free. They are treated equally to those who can pay their own fees.
Shaukat Khanum has never stopped treatment till now. After Lahore, they built one in Peshawar and one in Karachi and they are going to build one hospital in Kabul city of Afghanistan.
Even WHO declared Shaulat Khanam Hospital a center of excellence. And it remains the only non-governmental hospital that treats 75% of its patients for free.
Just like your dream, building, and operating a cancer hospital was also beyond the horizon of a dreamer. It was much bigger than all his resources and approach. He didn’t know if he would need to win the world cup for it, he didn’t know if winning the world cup would be enough, he didn’t know if he would face disappointment after disappointment, he didn’t know if it would take so long.
But he also never thought that one day everyone out there will begin to believe in his dream. Not only that but they will own his dream. He never thought that ordinary people could be so generous.
To sum it all up, the dreamer was completely unaware of this whole journey. He didn’t know how he will do it.
However, he always knew one thing: the idea that he was carrying in his mind had to be accomplished. It had to happen… no matter how… no matter what.
And probably that’s why he said, “you can achieve whatever you can picture in your mind.”
