At a panel discussion of the ‘Sanjeevani-United Against Cancer’ initiative of the News18 Network and Federal Bank Hormis Memorial Foundation together with Tata Trusts as a knowledge partner, actress and author Lisa Ray recounted how her multiple myeloma diagnosis in August 2009 coincided with a film she featured in coming out at the Toronto film festival the very next month.
“Because of the steroids, I had bloated up, I was 40 pounds overweight," she said at the session Courage Beyond The Spotlight, also featuring two fellow cancer survivors—filmmaker Anurag Basu and former Indian international cricketer Yuvraj Singh. “That’s not a big deal when you are saving your life. But when you’re stepping on the red carpet, it’s a bit of a big deal. So I had to make a very quick choice about whether I hide, or I could actually use this particular event of being on the red carpet, which is often used to talk about glamour or film release, or in the case of women…often they are criticised or torn apart on the red carpet…I realised I could actually subvert that moment to first of all talk about my cancer, which is a relatively rarer cancer."
The louder, more strident cancers get more research money and attention, she said. “I thought maybe I could use this situation to, first of all, bring more attention to my cancer. Secondly, I thought it could break the stigma. Because I couldn’t understand why everyone around me was advising me not to speak about my cancer publicly. It didn’t make any sense."
Talking about her relapse in 2012, Lisa said the second round was significantly different because she could see it coming. “I had just gotten married and I thought that I have to fight this disease. Otherwise, my husband would want a refund," she quipped at the session.
‘Sanjeevani’ aims to raise awareness and encourage conversations around the silent cancer epidemic, and to alleviate fears that often accompany this disease. The collaborative effort seeks to drive positive sentiments towards early and consistent health tests, tumour management, and symptom recognition, all crucial aspects in the battle against cancer.
In a typical Bollywood screenplay, when everything is going right for the main protagonist, there is a twist in the tail waiting for him, said Anurag Basu. “My film was a hit, I was signed by many producers, my wife was pregnant, and then it happened," he said.
The filmmaker recalled how, about 20 years ago, he was bleeding buckets of blood and was kept on ventilator support for a few weeks. “I see life differently now. My movies have changed. The stories I tell have changed."
It’s a fight within, a struggle from the inside, said Yuvraj Singh. “We won the World Cup after 28 years. I was 29 years old. I was probably at the peak of my career. I was peaking towards maybe breaking a few records. But unfortunately, when the doctor told me I had cancer, I felt like this guy is definitely not a doctor. How can I have cancer? I am an athlete who trains 5-6 hours a day. I eat well. I am a superior gene, which I am not, I have understood that," he said. “And life strikes you in a way that you are not expecting. You realise that you are just another human being."
The Sanjeevani initiative focuses on empowering and supporting individuals to confront fears and actively fight cancer. The number of cancer cases in the country is projected to go up from 14.6 lakh in 2022 to 15.7 lakh in 2025, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Cancer Registry Programme (ICMR-NCRP). Moreover, on a global scale, 30% of cancer patients lose their lives due to late-stage detection, while 70% achieve a reprieve due to early detection facilitated by awareness. Unfortunately, this ratio is reversed in India. It has become all the more urgent therefore to fight the social stigma surrounding it and counter the hesitancy around tests for early detection.
Medicine has evolved so much and, also, early detection is really important, said Lisa Ray. “We always say prevention is better than the cure. That’s what we should be talking about," she said.
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