Happy Birthday Sonali Bendre! Here's A Look Into Her Journey Fighting Metastatic Cancer, Chemotherapy

Happy birthday Sonali Bendre Behl! The actress, who recently came back to her Mumbai after months of treatment for metastatic cancer, is truly a fighter, and an inspiration to thousands of patients suffering from cancer. On Sonali Bendre's birthday, which falls on the very special occasion of New Year 2019, we take a look into how her journey with cancer has been. Following are a few excerpts from one of Sonali Bendre's posts on Instagram, where she talks about how painful and traumatising chemotherapy can be.

The journey can be dreadful. When a person loses the ability to perform even the simplest of activities, it destroys all motivation, encouragement and the will to move on. She began her post with a powerful quote from author Cheryl Strayed's book "Wild", which read, "I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me."

Sonali Bendre Behl's news of metastatic cancer shook the entire Bollywood industry and her fans all across the world. The actress has been quite active in terms of sharing her experience with cancer and its treatment.

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“I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me.” – Cheryl Strayed, Wild. Over the past couple of months, I have had good days and bad ones. There have been days when I've been so exhausted and in so much pain that even lifting a finger hurt. I feel like sometimes it's a cycle… one that starts off with physical pain and leads to mental and emotional pain. The bad days have been many… Post chemo, post-surgery and the like… where even just laughing hurts. Sometimes it felt like it took everything I've had to push past it… a minute to minute battle with myself. I got through it knowing that even though I was fighting a long drawn out, draining battle… it was one that was worth the fight. It's important to remember that we're allowed to have those bad days. Forcing yourself to be happy and cheerful all the time serves no purpose. Who are we being fake and putting on an act for? I allowed myself to cry, to feel the pain, to indulge in self-pity… for a short while. Only you know what you're going through and it is fine to accept it. Emotions aren't wrong. Feeling negative emotions isn't wrong. But after a point, identify it, recognize it and refuse to let it control your life. It takes an immense amount of self-care to get out of that zone. Sleep always helps, or having my favourite smoothie after chemo, or just talking to my son. For now, as my treatment continues… my visual focus remains to just get better and get back home. It's yet another test… Student all my life… Learning all my life… #OneDayAtATime

A post shared by Sonali Bendre (@iamsonalibendre) on Oct 8, 2018 at 11:19pm PDT

Also read: Diet Tips For Cancer Patients Who Undergo Chemotherapy Or Radiation

In this post, Sonali gave a personal account of how chemotherapy affected her physically and emotionally. She shared how exhausted and in pain she had been in the past couple of months. Even lifting a finger or laughing caused pain. This physical pain turned into a mental and emotional pain, and the cycle continued, she wrote in her post. The battle was indeed intense and continuous.

Also read: How Ginger Is More Effective Than Chemotherapy In Treating Cancer

Amidst all the pain and the struggle, what is most important is the realisation that it is all worth the fight. A person should be allowed to have bad days as there is actually no point in forcing yourself to be happy and cheerful all the time. Give yourself the space and agency to cry and even indulge in self-pity a short while. Every person has the right to feel all emotions, including the negative ones. It is all justified as far you identify and recognise it, and don't let it control your life. It takes a lot of self-care to get out of that zone, Sonali agreed. You can always resort to sleeping for comfort. Sonali believes it always helps.

Also read: Good News! Not Every Woman With Breast Cancer Needs Chemotherapy

Birthday girl Sonali is now back in her Mumbai abode, keeping herself engaged with the book club that she runs online. On her birthday, we wish best of love, luck and good health to her. 

Happy birthday once again, dear Sonali!