Manisha Koirala: There's always a fear whether cancer will come back

Being diagnosed with cancer is not a death sentence, says actress and cancer survivor Manisha Koirala, but adds that the fear of it coming back lurks at the back of your mind. 'I didn't care about my health before, but now I take a lot of care of my health. But there is always a fear whether the cancer will come back, so I now know how to deal with it,' said the 43-year-old who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012. She successfully battled the disease.

'We have to go step by step,' she told reporters Thursday at the unveiling of the 7th anniversary cover of Prevention, a health magazine. 'Many people tend to lose hope when they are diagnosed with cancer ... they tend to give up. There is a stigma attached to cancer but I would like to say cancer is not a death sentence, there is a hope,' said the actress, who was seen in hits like 'Dil Se' and 'Bombay'. (Read: Cancer why you need a second opinion)

She praises the film fraternity for their support while she was undergoing treatment in New York. 'I couldn't attend the calls as I was undergoing treatment but I used to get calls from Tabu, Gulshan Grover, Shatrughan Sinha and they used to speak to my family about my health,' said the actress who returned here in June last year after being cured. (Read: Yuvraj and Manisha talk about beating cancer)

What is cancer?

Normal body cells multiply in an orderly fashion. Some cells multiply, while some cells die, so that the body mass remains intact. All this is programmed and tightly controlled by 'genes' in the cells. When there is some change in the genes due to variety of reasons, it could cause a cell to escape this control mechanism and multiply uncontrollably. This is cancer. The cells just keep on multiplying, initially forming a small 'tumour', and finally grow larger. The problem with cancer is, in whichever organ the cancer forms, the function of that organ is disturbed by the cancer. Besides, cancer cells can spread by means of lymphatics and blood stream to other organs in the body and they form similar tumours in that organ and disturb the function of that organ too. It is the disturbance of function of the organs which initially causes the symptoms and ultimately results in the death of the person. (Read: Cancer your most common queries answered by an expert)

With inputs from IANS

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