Celebrities Who Defeated Cancer

The love for life and the desire to live lays the hope to fight against all odds. While numerous break down to the cruelty of the dreaded disease “cancer”, there a lot many distinguished personalities to be taken inspiration from.

They say that beauty of life is in life itself. And those who survive and stand as an example deserve to be emulated. Here is a list of inspirations who have withstood the devour of time and showed us that no matter how dark the night is, the sun dawns tomorrow.

Lisa Ray:

The stunning Indo-Canadian model and actress Lisa Ray was very much in the sparkling years of her career when she found herself plunged into the dark world of cancer. Lisa, a successful model and the lead in the Oscar nominated film, Water refused to draw back and accept darkness after she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer caused by malignant plasma cells. This was in 2009. And in 2010 she emerged as a survivor, beating this deadly disease with her undying faith on herself and the Lord and her belief that “life is for her, not against her”. She is now a happily married woman and a living inspiration to all.

Manisha Koirala:

The beautiful and one of the leading actresses in 1990s, Manisha too fell a prey to the dreadful cancer. Oblivious of the fact, she came to know about it only in 2012 when she felt suddenly unconscious and was detected with ovarian cancer. She stood strong and undaunted and came out victorious in her battle against the disease for which she was treated in New York. Back to shooting, she is now filled with more appreciation towards life and honoring her body.

Mumtaz:

This bubbly heroine of yesteryears is still remembered fondly for her roles in “Roti”, “Aap Ki Kasam”, “Do Raaste” and many more to her credit. She became a victim of breast cancer at the age of 54. But this did not end her zest for life. Defeating this deadly disease, she is still in the best of her charms to fall in love with.

Barbara Mori:

The “Kite” famed actress Barbara, though did not have her stint of success in Bollywood, is still talked about amongst the masses. Though unknown to many, this charming lady has also survived cancer which was detected at a very early stage. She had a chat on her life voyage in a documentary named “1 a Minute” made by Indo-American actress Namrata Singh Gujral (another cancer survivor)

Kylie Minogue:

Remember the Chiggy Wiggy girl in the film “Blue”!! She is an Australian pop singer who was also detected with breast cancer in 2005. After she mowed the disease down, she became an active awareness creator for the disease and was even awarded an honorary degree on Doctor of Health Science by the UK based university Anglia Ruskin.

Yuvraj Singh:

The man who has reigned in the hearts of millions of fans since years does not need an introduction. As a true inspiration, whether on the fields or off the fields, Yuvraj has proved his mettle everywhere. Defeating seminoma, a cancerous tumor that appeared in his left lung of which he was diagnosed in 2011, he came back with all the more spark and positivity. Honored with Arjuna Award and Padma Shri, there was no looking back and even he went on to become the most expensive auctioned cricketer at IPL 2015. His Autobiography The Test of My Life : From Cricket to Cancer and Back teaches you that cancer is just a word and not a sentence.

Anurag Basu:

This famed and exceptionally talented director had also his own stride of life. Diagnosed in 2004 with acute promyelocytic leukemina, a form of blood cancer, Basu was given only a couple of months for survival by the doctors. But he proved himself to be a brave warrior with even just 50% of his survival ratio. Scripts like “Life in a Metro” and “Gangster” came from his hospital-beds. And today we see him as one of the finest directors of the time with films like “Barfi” under his belt. Truly inspiring, isn’t it?