In the winter of 2016, I used to get a lot of headaches, and I started losing a lot of weight. It was not that I was on a diet or exercised a lot; I was engrossed in office work throughout weekdays. I did not pay attention to that initially. However, the magnitude of the headaches and the weight loss began to increase, so my parents insisted that I should get myself tested. First, I went to a General Practitioner, who told me that I should go and get a Lung X-ray done.

The X-ray showed tumorous growth, but to study it further, my doctor asked me to get a CT scan done. Even the CT scan showed that it was a tumour. Next, I had to go for a Biopsy to see if the growth was malignant or not. When the Biopsy revealed that the tumour was malignant, we went to an oncologist who confirmed that it was Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, which is cancer in the lymph nodes, and in my case, it was in the lymph node between my heart and lungs. We started my treatment, and it began with six cycles of Chemotherapy. About one week in the hospital and two consecutive weeks of recovery.

Chemotherapies were very draining for me, I have had tubes all over my body, and the two weeks of recovery were full of mood swings, stomach aches, and constipation, I started losing facial and leg hair in the first week itself. That added to a lot of emotional distress. When all six cycles of chemo were done, I underwent radiation, which was again 1.5 months across 25 sittings, but they were extremely smooth with no side effects. As per my dietitian's advice, I ate home-cooked food. During my treatment,

I used to read a lot of survivor stories, and these stories gave me a lot of courage and determination. Since December 2017, I've been in remission for about two and a half years. I am really happy with the kind of treatment I got from Lilavati. They invest in a way that they take care of you holistically, and their approach is very methodical. If there is any message I would like to give to others, then I would say that please take care of your health, do not over-indulge in things like cigarettes and alcoholism, stay positive, and If you have the will to succeed, failing is never an option.