Lisa Ray. The actress or the stunning model? The Lisa Ray that a packed Taj Bengal ballroom met at Ray of Hope, a Ficci Ladies Organisation (FLO) Kolkata’s interactive session recently, was neither. The gorgeous lady smiling at you was “Lisa 2.0”, oozing positivity. 

Often during the seesion we felt our eyes welling up, only to be washed over by a sense of calmness that acceptance brings. The word ‘cancer’ rolled off her tongue easily. She could actually smile and say, “The fact that I am alive is proof that you can get through it!” 

The Lisa who sat before us was a “cancer graduate”. A ballsy one at that, who could laugh about her port — “small silicone titanium devices which are put under the skin. It is like a pacemaker, hidden, which makes chemotherapy less painful”. “No, I am not trying to flash you!” she laughed as she pointed to the port on her chest. 

Lisa was diagnosed in 2009 with multiple myeloma, considered incurable. “Sometimes the storm clears out a path that you may not have seen before,” she said. She had to of course “surrender” to heal. “I realised that I have to become a partner because at the end of the day, it’s my health… my body, my responsibility as well, and then I can surrender to the treatment. That was a revelation for me, because I was very independent-minded,” she said. And in a strange way the dreaded disease freed her. “I started leading this double life. I was still trying to continue as if everything was normal but it was getting very conflicted inside and I was questioning myself. I did a shoot and it was cold and when I went for my chemo, they couldn’t find a vein. I was like why am I hiding this from the world? This is now a part of my life. It was cancer that helped me make that breakthrough,” she looked back. 

She went public about it on a red carpet, “the most un-self-conscious” she had ever been. She started writing a blog and dedicated time to the awareness of multiple myeloma. Her bald pate gave her “a real warrior” feel. “I am going into the next phase of my life,” she said. She also spoke about the need to reach out and “ask for help… channel or tap into this incredible power of community”.

Lisa, who swears by yoga, meditation and retreats, said women need to start paying attention to their health. “We are the heart of everything and the backbone and the muscle. We have to start changing the dialogue,” she said. And just like that, the “girl from Shyambazar” made us smile. 
The song on our lips? Afreen, Afreen.  

The chat that was moderated by Shaikat Gupta, director, surgical oncology, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, also saw Radhika Santhanakrishnan, a cancer survivor and crusader from Chennai, share her experiences. It was eight years back that Radhika was struck by breast cancer. Not only did she brave it out, but also started an NGO called Penn Nalam. “Penn means women in Tamil and nalam, wellness. The mission is to educate, care, screen, diagnose, treat and counsel,” she said.