Sanjukta Sharma, 47,
Mumbai, India.
Sanjukta Sharma is a writer and journalist based in Mumbai, India. She is working on a book titled ‘The Uterus Does Not Weep’ and working towards founding a support and writerly platform on women’s health called Girls Who Heal.
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The months following my Stage 3 ovarian cancer diagnosis in August 2017, were harrowing in the most obvious way—what every cancer patient would have to undergo. The mental and emotional process of accepting the diagnosis, the sick days after chemotherapy, looking at myself and facing the world with a shiny bald pate instead of my long black hair that seemed to reflect more light than there was light around me, navigating plethora of healing tools and advice that flooded my living space as well as my inbox, the questions, the applaud, the “brave” tag and knowing that I would have to live with the reality that cancer can come back anytime.
Four years on, the memory of those days are blurring around the edges. But here, I only want to share why my cancer journey so far has been a journey of genuine transformation. Before cancer, I used to be obsessed with my body—how to shed those extra kilos, how to suppress discomfort and pain, how to expect it to obey what my mind as and when I wanted it to. Only after cancer do I really inhabit my body. And for that, my gratitude is endless.
But this spiritual and emotional journey wouldn’t have been possible if I had not benefitted from new strides in the field of precision oncology. I am on Lynparza, a PARP-Inhibitor drug that launched in the Indian market around 2019, and it has given me a “new normal” that looks a lot like my old normal. I work normal hours, I am actively and deeply involved in the life of my 10-year-old daughter, I am a passionate yoga practitioner, I even took over the kitchen during the pandemic to discover the joys of cooking for the first time in my life. So I carry the “new normal” in my heart and mind, inhabiting a body that is much lighter, healthier and more expressive than it was before my cancer diagnosis.
Thanks to a consultation with a leading Precision Oncologist, that my brilliant medical oncologist here in Mumbai, India, Dr Sewanti Limaye, facilitated, I got the Homologous Recombination Deficiency (HRD) genetic panel test done in the US. It revealed that while I did not inherit a BRCA or any other genetic mutation relevant to apply precision oncology for treating ovarian cancer, I had a somatic BRCA2 mutation—the tumour had a BRCA mutation. So a PARP-Inhibitor was likely to work on me to keep cancer progression at bay. Under Dr Limaye’s guidance, I have been able to maintain a cancer-free life so far. I started Lynparza in November, 2019. Since then, my CA 125 blood levels have stayed well within normal limits (the lowest ever since the diagnosis has been 11, which was last month!) And my scans have been clear.
I am immensely grateful that precision oncology is an expanding field, that it is changing millions of lives of people with cancer and those whose near and dear ones have cancer. In India, it is almost impossible to get health insurance companies to cover pills, and financially, we as a family (my husband Sammit Das who has been my patient, humorous and extremely caring primary care-giver is a film-maker, I am a journalist and writer, and my 10-year-old daughter goes to a Waldorf school) have had to pull out all resources to fund this treatment. Friends and family have helped us with money, their time and love in ways that I could not have imagined. It has been tough; our financial struggles have been daunting at times—I have had to have a gap in taking the medicine once during the pandemic because I could not find the money to buy the medicine. But I am back on it, and doing well.
If we embrace science, and add alternative/complementary methods of treatment after thorough research, work on our diet, exercise plan and our mental and emotional health, cancer can be managed. I never thought of cancer as an enemy; I have never used military terms such as “warrior” and “crusader” to describe my journey healing from cancer—how can my own body’s cells be my enemy? Instead, I have been mindful and gentle with myself. And in the process, we as a family have found a path to healing. It is a work in progress, a continuous process of discovery to stay healthy, stay passionate about living and stay peaceful—in my experience, the best antidotes to cancer.
So thank you, Cancer. And thank you, Precision Oncology.
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