A Fight to Victory!

Actress Manisha Koirala talks about conquering the dreaded ‘C’ with Nandini R Penna.

- Nandini R Penna

In November 2012, when the beauteous Manisha Koirala was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, her world came crashing down.But not one to take things lying down, she fought the disease with all she had and has been cancer-free since 2013. We caught up with the courageous actress at Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad, and got her to tell us about her journey in her own words…

ABOUT HER BATTLE

“There were times when I just wanted to give up as the treatment and the side effects were too painful to bear. Many times, I would not give my parents details as they are old and they could not bear what I was going through. But once when I shared this, it was my mom who gave me a lot of emotional support. I remember when I told her that I’d rather die than bear the pain, my mother scolded me and said this was only momentary and that I would get better soon. She said, ‘You are brave, the strongest person, and you cannot give up so easily’. My mother was always giving me these inspiring talks. So there was no choice but to fight it. Actually, most cancer patients want to fight it out. Some are lucky and win the battle, but sadly some lose. But I was mentally prepared not to give up. A friend of mine gave me a pep talk and told me to take chemo as a vitamin. People say that it is poison but for cancer patients, it is the drug that will kill cancer.”

REBUILDING WITH A FRESH PERSPECTIVE