An Uninvited Guest Comes
Home.
Anni Rajani Sharma recalls that 2013 started on perfectly
happy note. The 30-year-old business executive had
moved to Chandigarh in February, after marrying the
man she calls “love of my life”, following a seven-year
long-distance relationship. “My husband Kunal and I
were busy planning our future together when the
unexpected happened,” she says. In August 2013, Anni
was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer.
She says that her first reaction was one of denial and
disbelief. “My first reaction was 'Why me?', I wallowed
in that feeling of misery for the first month.
“Neither of us was prepared for it. We had been in a
long-distance relationship for so long, and were finally
moving on with our life together. But, as that first
month came to an end, we had come to terms with
my diagnosis.”
The Journey to Recovery
Begins.
“Treating cancer takes time. It’s not a one-day surgery
or a 10-day course of treatment. It’s a long drawn out
period of treatment and recovery, and the side effects
can go on for years. I would be lying if I said that it
was an easy phase and that I could go through it
again.”
“I still have to go for frequent follow-up tests. Cancer
can recur in the first two years after recovery, and
there is a continued risk for up to five years. Going for
these tests is like an exam, and I still cry on occasions
during my PET scans. It is difficult, but each time I am
given a clean chit, I feel good,” she says.
Anni once again stresses the importance of following
the right diet. “If you watch your diet and stay active,
this will be a phase that you can get through. And,
don’t listen to the people who will scare you.”
Anni Sharma
“Cancer is curable. So just keep going...it’s a
phase and once you get through the other
side, everything becomes okay.”THE WEEK • JULY 21, 2019 23PLUS