Manisha Koirala, who is one of Bollywood’s most-loved actresses and has had a career spanning over three decades faced one of the toughest battles of her life when she was diagnosed with “ovarian cancer” in the year 2012.
Recently, the actress opened up about her journey with cancer and how she overcame it. While speaking to ANI, Manisha shared how she first learned about her diagnosis and how it came as a shock. She shared that she felt like she was “going to die” and that it was the “end of her life,” and explained that it was then that her family decided to seek treatment in New York.
“In 2012 I was diagnosed and I had no clue that it was the last stage of ovarian cancer. And when I was diagnosed in Nepal, I was very fearful, obviously, like everybody else, extremely. We were in Jaslok Hospital. There also, when the doctors came, the two, three doctors, the top doctors, and I spoke to them, I felt I was going to die. And I felt this was the end of me,” she said.
“We knew some two, three known people, figures, we knew that they had gone to New York and done the treatment. And my grandfather also had gone to Sloan Kettering and done the treatment,” she added.
The actress spent around 5 to 6 months in New York for treatment. She spoke about her successful 11-hour operation and how the doctors were kind to her family and also shared how she responded well to chemotherapy.
“My mother had taken Rudraksha from Nepal by worshipping Mahamrityunjaya and had given it to the doctor to keep it with him. So somehow, I don’t know how he kept it, but he managed to keep it with him, and after 11 hours of operation, he said that this mala has done wonders,” she said.
“I also started responding very well to chemo. He introduced me to Vicky Makker, who is half Punjabi and American, Punjabi American. And so she basically started treating me and she gave me a lot of hope,” Manisha said.
“There were a lot of times I remember I would break down and I would see only darkness… hopelessness and pain and fear. And she’s the one who kept on saying, ‘Manisha you’re doing well. You know, your medicine is working on you,'” she added.
Looking back, Manisha spoke about how surviving cancer made her reflect more on her career. She decided that if she got a “second chance” at life, she would give her best to her work, and Heeramandi did that for her.
“I knew one thing, if I got a second chance at life, I had to go and fix the score because life gave me so much. And I felt I was the one who ruined everything. So I wanted to correct that mistake. I felt responsible towards my work… because there were so many fans I had disappointed by doing bad films,” she said.
“I prayed that if I got a second chance, I really wanted to do the best that I could and not disappoint my fans. So I felt Heeramandi was that for me. I really put my every effort into that,” she added.
Manisha Koirala was last seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s web show ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’. The show also starred Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Shaikh, Aditi Rao Hydari, Fardeen Khan, Shekhar Suman, and Taha Shah Badussha.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ’s editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
