Who's afraid of the big C?

07 September,2010 06:54 AM IST |   |  Alisha Coelho

As dark days engulf sport with match fixing in cricket rearing its ugly head and athletes failing dope tests before the Commonwealth Games, Martina Navratilova's comeback as analyst for the ongoing US Open after her chemotherapy, is the silver lining on the sporty cloud


As dark days engulf sport with match fixing in cricket rearing its ugly head and athletes failing dope tests before the Commonwealth Games, Martina Navratilova's comeback as analyst for the ongoing US Open after her chemotherapy, is the silver lining on the sporty cloud

Even as tennis legend Martina Navratilova has made a comeback to tennis this US Open albeit off the court as match analyst, her fight against breast cancer has come as a shock to some who wonder how sportspersons with their tough fitness regimes and healthy living are victims of the disease.

The former women's world number one is not the only one whose battle with the disease made headlines. Both cyclist Lance Armstrong and US swimmer Eric Shanteau made stunning comebacks from their trials, the latter even having gone on to compete at the 2008 Beijing Olympics a week after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.


WE DID IT! India's Leander Paes (l) celebrates with US tennis legend
Martina Navratilova (foreground r) eyed by Bill Gates, Chairman of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, after winning the French Open tennis
men's doubles final match in 2009 at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris.u00a0
AFP PHOTO / JACQUES DEMARTHON


Malignant
So what is it about the disease that makes even those practicing the highest forms of good living susceptible to it? Dr Anil Heroor, oncosurgeon with Fortis Hospital Mulund explains, "Cancer's not something you catch from the outside like a cold. To explain it as simply as we can, cells live and die in our body all the time and cell division takes place every day. When something goes wrong with that process, there's a chance of a malignant formation in the body."

Family history, to some, may also seem like the all-important definer of how susceptible one is to cancer, but oncologists say that it makes for a very small percentage of all cases. "The risk of heredity cancer makes up for perhaps only one or two per cent of all the cases I see. This doesn't mean that you should ignore the warning signs," says Dr Sanjay Sharma, consultant oncologist with Lilavati Hospital. "If your mother has had breast cancer and so have your siblings, you need to be careful about any lumps and bumps you feel around your breast and bring these to the notice of a doctor immediately," said Sharma.

Treadmill
The cynics therefore should put skepticism aside and use that treadmill. Cancer, and especially in urban areas like Mumbai have skyrocketed over the last decade. According to Sharma, Mumbai's cancer registry statistics for breast cancer alone showed an incidence of about 30 cases per lakh in 2005 when the same figure in the 1982 was around 20.8 per lakh. "In comparison, Barshi, which is a rural district in Maharashtra only registers 12 breast cancer cases among a lakh residents, the number being less than half of the total cases in Mumbai," said Sharma.

There are also other factors. "Indian women tend to develop breast cancer a full decade earlier than say, Caucasian women. Add to this other factors like pollution, poor diet, obesity, fewer children and more menstrual cycles and the risk increases," said Heroor adding that breast cancer now replaces cervical cancer as the top cancer among women in urban areas.

Exercise
Lifestyle therefore, doctors maintain, is a very important factor. "I certainly have less clients who lead active lifestyles coming in for cancer treatment than those who do," said Dr S Banavali, head of medical oncology at Tata Memorial Hospital. What's more is that doctors also encourage exercise among patients who are undergoing treatment. "Of course, there are exceptions," said Banavali. "We don't recommend strenuous exercise to those undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia as the treatment causes rapid falls in their blood count. There's also osteosarcoma, an aggressive cancer that attacks the bone and is common among children, where we would not recommend exercise. However drugs like adriamycin and taxane used in chemotherapy do not have long lasting side effects and those having undergone treatment can certainly start jogging or walking after treatment is done," he said.

And while mild forms of exercise are fine, patients can also return to vigorous training once treatment is done. "One hundred percent, they can," said Heroor. "Exercise helps patients feel better about themselves and also can help build immune system. This can also play a huge part in preventing the cancer from coming back."

Success

Sharma recounts a success story from the 1980s of an athlete that went on to return to her game even after treatment. "There was this very well known squash player who had come to me for treatment for breast cancer when she was only 19. At that time, and we're talking of the '80s, there was no methods developed for oncosurgeons to save the breast so we had to perform a mastectomy and remove her breast. She's gone on to win several titles since and she hasn't been back yet. With doctors, we always say that no news is good news and to the best of my knowledge she's hale and hearty to this day," said Sharma.



The Future
The book, Being Myself, by Martina Navratilova along with George Vecseyu00a0u00a0 was written much before Martina Navratilova was diagnosed with cancer. It was published in 1985. In what seems ironical right now, Navratilova writes about how she has not felt her mortality as yet, she even wrote about cancer in the extract, little knowing that years down the line, she would be a cancer victim (and survivor) herself.u00a0u00a0u00a0

An excerpt from her book, 'Being Myself.'
I don't know if it's my national or family background or just my personal makeup, but until recently, I've never felt the need to analyse my behaviour. I was impulsive, and I acted on my feelings. I was always living with people, surrounded by close friends, and rarely took the time to think about what was really going on inside.
People say that sooner or later it is a good idea to talk things over, to find out more about yourself, but I just don't think about it. I've always felt able to take care of myself. Despite my real father's suicide, I'm a survivor. My grandmother's death was probably the worst thing that ever happened to me, but if you think about it, in terms of what many people have to endure, it's not that bad. I mean, she lived a long life and died happy, as far as I know.

There were a few times when my future might have been in jeopardy, and my feelings have been hurt, but it was nothing unbearable. A friend of yours gets in an accident, tragic things happen, a friend of yours gets cancer -- I haven't been through a lot of that. I've never seen a dead body. I knew some people who died in a car accident, but I haven't been around death that much.

Nevertheless, the older I get, the more I think about it. I was watching a movie on cable TV the other day, Peter Sellers in Being There, and I suddenly thought, that man isn't alive. He won't make any more Pink Panther movies. There he was, making that movie, and now he no longer exists.

I guess it happens more the older you get. You think of all the people who aren't around anymore. I think about my grandmother, even dream about her, but I haven't been exposed to any traumatic experiences. I'm wondering what I'm going to do when I hit that low. I can't imagine being so low that you can't get up again, but some people don't see past tomorrow, so they commit suicide.

When I die, I don't want a lot of money in the bank. I'll be happy spending my money, but not on tanks or B-52s. All that money wasted on warfare while millions of people starve to death. Something needs to be done here, and I can't think of a better way to spend the rest of my life, while I educate myself a little better. I plan to take some courses in English literature, American history and perhaps architecture. But I don't want to take any more exams. I've had enough anxiety on the courts to last me a lifetime.
From: Being Myself, by Martina Navratilova and George Vecsey. A Collins Publication.
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Of courage and class
Dave John Callaghan (born 1965) was cured of cancer but memories of those scary months in 1991 cannot be erased. The cricketer figured in the 1992-93 series against India in South Africa but couldn't do justice to his all-round ability and emerge one of South Africa's top performers.

Pundits believed he was a Hansie Cronje-like player. He admitted that he did not work hard enough on his game and in the process saw others muscle in and make their mark.

Callaghan was hit in his lower abdomen while playing club cricket in England in 1991. A visit to the doctor called for further investigations, which revealed he had testicular cancer.

"It was not that I got cancer because I got hit. It had just started and fortunately I went to get myself checked," he had said. "I had four sessions of chemotherapy. They were awful. I remember collapsing in the passage on the way to the toilet and my wife had to help me to the toilet and back on the bed."

"I lost all my hair through chemotherapy sessions. Everyone was very concerned about my health. People used to ask me how I was and when I said I'm fine, I could see that they were not convinced. But as a cancer patient, you are always positive and you always believe that you will live.

"My illness made me think about life more. I looked back on my days when I used to bang my bat and throw tantrums in the dressing room when I used to get out. I regretted that and decided to take whatever comes my way in my stride simply because I was fortunate to be living." The survivor's message for cancer patients is, "live for each day."

For more than three years now, former India cricketer, T E Srinivasan is battling malignant brain tumour with courage. Srinivasan, played one Test for India on the 1980-81 tour of New Zealand. His wife Mala had said earlier, "We don't think negatively at all. We enjoy life and we celebrate living each day. Right from the start, T E said that he was going to fight. We enjoy every minute and don't look beyond."

Srinivasan had read two of the legendary cyclist Lance Armstrong's books on cancer (Armstrong had suffered testicular cancer but made a comeback to competitive cycling) and was not surprised with the news of his comeback.u00a0
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Lance Armstrong is the big daddy of sporting cancer survivors. The US cyclist battled testicular cancer and came back to cycling competition writing books on what it took to conquer cancer and serving as inspiration to others. Simply the fact that he was able to compete once again in the Tour de France, one of the world's most demanding endurance events, is proof of his resilience.

Malcolm Denzil Marshall, West Indian cricketer and primarily a fast bowler wasu00a0 regarded as one of the finest and fastest pacemen ever to have played Test cricket. In 1999, during the World Cup it was revealed that Marshall had colon cancer. He immediately left his coaching job to begin treatment, but this was ultimately unsuccessful: he returned to his home town, where he died on November 4, aged 41, weighing little more than 25 kg.

Rena 'Rusty' Kanokogi was a renowned American judoka from New York. In 1959, disguised as a man, she won a medal at a YMCA judo tournament, but had to return it after acknowledging that she was a woman. She is perhaps best known for pioneering women's judo competition at the Olympics. Kanokogi died on November 21, 2009, at the Lutheran Medical Center in New York, following a battle with leukemia.

Mumtaz, Barbara Mori in cancer awareness film
Saying it on celluloid is better than saying it with flowers, thinks director Namrata Singh Gujral. Gujral has made 1 a minute, a UniGlobe Entertainment Production, a docudrama movie to raise awareness about breast cancer.
The movie would release on October 29, at select city theaters.

The movie stars survivors like Lisa Ray (Water and Bollywood Hollywood), Barbara Mori (La Mujer de Mi Hermano and Kites), Mumtaz (former Bollywood actor), Namrata Singh Gujralu00a0 (Americanizing Shelley and The Agency), Olivia Newton-John (Grease), Jaclyn Smith (Charlie's Angels) and Melissa Etheridge (An Inconvenient Truth), and finally Priya Dutt, whose mother, Nargis Dutt, died of cancer.

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Martina Navratilova cancer chemotherapy books Being Myself