Healed is the powerful, moving and deeply personal story of actor Manisha Koirala's battle against ovarian cancer. From her treatment in the US and the wonderful care provided by the oncologists there to how she rebuilt her life once she returned home, the book takes us on an emotional rollercoaster ride through her many fears and struggles, and shows how she eventually came out triumphant.
Today, as she completes six years of being cancer-free, she shares her story—one marked by apprehensions, disappointments and uncertainties—and the lessons she learnt along the way. Through her journey, she unravels cancer for us and inspires us to not buckle under its fear, but emerge alive, kicking and victorious.
MANISHA KOIRALA is one of India's leading film actors. Born into the prominent Koirala family of Nepal, she made her Bollywood debut with Saudagar in 1991, before going on to establish herself as one of the leading actresses with films such as 1942: A Love Story, Akele Hum Akele Tum, Bombay, Khamoshi: The Musical, Dil Se, Mann, Lajja and Company. She took a break from acting in 2012 and returned five years later with the coming-of-age drama Dear Maya, Netflix's Lust Stories and Sanju.
She was appointed the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund in 1999 and 2015, and was involved in the relief work following the Nepal earthquake in 2015. She promotes causes such as women's rights, prevention of violence against women, prevention of human trafficking, and cancer awareness. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012 and has been cancer-free since 2013
NEELAM KUMAR is a bestselling author, motivational speaker, soft-skills trainer and life-skills coach. This is her ninth book. She lives in Mumbai.
In 2013, while I was battling cancer in New York, I met a Rinpoche who had travelled to the US from Nepal. In Tibetan, Rinpoche means the 'precious one'. It is an honorific title used in Tibetan Buddhism for a teacher of the dharma.
He advised me to treat every feeling I was going through as a 'precious jewel and pen all of them down while I was experiencing them. He further told me that the mind was conditioned to forget and if I did not commit these feelings and thoughts to paper, I would lose the valuable lessons of my chemotherapy days in the mundaneness of everyday life.
So while going through that phase of my life I kept fragmented notes in my diary, hoping to spin them into a book later. Truth be told, bits of this book were written in my head during my chemo days. But I found it hard to sit down with my painful memories and document them in a book.
Now I have finally got around to writing one. My book is a result of intense soul-searching. I have plunged deep into the dark, bottomless pit of painful memories and woven a story out of them. It has taken a lot of courage to confront and relive my experiences. But I needed to do so in order to become a true storyteller for the readers' sake as well as my own.
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