National Cancer Awareness Day: Mamta Mohandas's 7-year long battle with cancer is an inspiring tale

Mamta Mohandas. Pic- Instagram

Malayalam film actress Mamta Mohandas's fight with cancer is an inspiring tale. While the deadly disease has claimed several lives over the years, there are many who have also fought the battle against the disease and emerged victorious. Mamta Mohandas survived cancer not once but twice.

On National Cancer Awareness Day, we look back at Mamta Mohandas's battle with cancer. In 2009, Mamta was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the body's lymph nodes. She was in her 20s and very new to the film industry as well. It was the beginning of a 7-year-long battle with the disease for the actress. She had a relapse in 2013 following a failed bone marrow transplant. In these seven years, Mamta also went through a divorce.

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Mamta was not the one to give up. She moved to the United States of America and underwent continual treatment in 2016 was one of the first to be part of a clinical trial for FDA approved drug called nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma.

In 2019, when the world of social media was hooked to the 10-year challenge, Mamta too participated in it, reflecting on her journey with cancer.

"As it's WORLD CANCER DAY, I had decided that my #10yearchallenge will have to wait until today "I GOT CANCER… CANCER DIDN'T GET ME" (sic)," she began her Instagram post.

The actor, who battled Hodgkin's Lymphoma, continued, "2009 was the year that changed everything for me and impacted every plan my family had for us. Last 10 years has been quite a challenge and as I look back come 2019, I'm proud to realize that I have fought tirelessly, stayed strong and survived. Staying positive and strong for several years is very hard but if I have done it, there are a few people behind it. All Thanks to Dad-Mom(thank you is a speck of a word to express my gratitude to you), a few of my cousins who have shown me what sibling-love is and my dearest friends who always cared to call or text to check if I am ‘actually well' and not just pretending to be ok, all the good work that comes my way and colleagues who challenge me to perform better and to all the opportunities given to me by the universe to realize what's right for me and what's not."

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She ended the note with, "Never forget Bald Heads Turn Heads."