Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh's charitable work follows directly from his own illness. Shortly after he was named player of the tournament at the 2011 Cricket World Cup, he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in his left lung and treated with chemotherapy in Boston and at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Centre in Indianapolis, completing his third and final cycle in March 2012. He returned to international cricket that September. During treatment he said publicly that he intended to spend his time afterwards helping people affected by cancer.

The YouWeCan Foundation, registered as a trust under the Bombay Public Trust Act, was the result. Its stated purpose is to help people fight cancer through awareness, early detection, patient support and survivor empowerment, and its programmes are built around the problem it identifies as central in India: that a large majority of cases are found only at an advanced stage and most families cannot meet the cost of treatment. It runs screening and awareness workshops, dedicated breast cancer and paediatric cancer programmes, a treatment fund for patients who cannot pay, and scholarships for cancer survivors. In 2015 it took a national cancer awareness campaign into schools and colleges, and in 2015 Singh also set up YouWeCan Ventures as a linked investment arm. During the pandemic the foundation ran hospital bed, hygiene kit and hunger relief missions.[2][3]