Lisa Ray: There’s a need to rebrand cancer as an opportunity to change

Lisa Ray walks into the coffee shop for the interview, on the dot, at 11 am. Heads turn out of curiosity as the actor-model sits down by the window with her coffee to speak about her personal fight against cancer.

It has been over five years since Ray revealed in her blog, The Yellow Diaries, that she had multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer.

“I am not in the clear and will never be,” she says. “I live with cancer, I am on drugs, very heavy drugs. That’s my new normal,” she adds.

If there is one thing Ray passionately argues for, it’s for patients to take informed decisions. And she delves into her life’s experiences to explain complexities, be it on stem cell therapy or medicine prices.

“There is a lot of information out there,” she says, urging patients to take control, understand their body and treatment. Ray herself has been through stem cell therapy, worked with centres that cure disease through diet, met healers and adopted “complementary” (read alternative) medicine.

As she shuttles between Toronto, Hong Kong and India, has she tuned into the raging debate on medicine prices? Critical medicine remains unaffordable for many, despite India having among the lowest prices in the world. Her response brings us to Revlimid, a medicine similar to a newer version of thalidomide, the controversial morning sickness drug known to cause life-threatening birth-defects.

“Revlimid (lenalidomide) works for me”, she says, but because of the class action suits against it, Ray says, she literally has “to jump through hoops all the time” for the medicine.

Besides, a month’s doze of the drug costs $10,000, while a generically similar version of the drug costs $200, she says.

“Please explain that,” she exclaims, touching on a core healthcare challenge that involves keeping medicines affordable and allowing companies to fix high medicine prices to recoup investments in research. There are layers to the medicine prices argument, she agrees, but “the patient has to be at the top of the food chain”.

Ray clarifies that her medicines are paid for by the Canadian health system, but in India, there is still much cynicism on health insurance. People need to invest in health insurance or set aside funds for health, she says. Bring in competition to bring down prices and create subsidies for those who cannot afford medicine, says the award-winning actor, speaking like a regular health-activist.

Having had stem cell treatment, Ray is shocked at how “people keep themselves in the dark” despite information being freely available. “Stem cells are a fascinating medium and it holds the key to everything … creating a heart muscle, organs …See it as an insurance,” she says, referring to the regenerative properties of these unspecified cells that can be coaxed to grow as required.

Reflecting on her journey, Ray says, it’s not been the easiest, there have been good and bad times. Her focus now is on “inner work.”

People are constantly busy to do well, this distracts you from yourself and that is not a good formula, she says. As for cancer, she says, there is a need to rebrand cancer as an opportunity to change, not a death sentence. Patients need to get better informed and they need to never give up, she says, picking up her bag, as she heads for the gym.