She found a lump — but waited 6 months: How this actress caught cancer just in time

Actor and social worker Rajshri Deshpande has been diagnosed with breast cancer, specifically Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma, the most common form of breast cancer. The 41 year old actor, known for her performances in the film Angry Indian Goddesses and the Netflix series Trial by Fire, is currently recovering after surgery and awaiting radiation therapy as the next stage of treatment. Her diagnosis, however, came early — stage one — a detail doctors often describe as the difference between a highly treatable condition and a life threatening illness.

For Deshpande, the discovery began not in a hospital but during a routine self examination at home about six months ago, when she noticed something unusual in her left breast. Like many people juggling work, family responsibilities and travel, she delayed getting it checked. Only later, during a visit to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar in Maharashtra where her father was recovering from a stroke, did she undergo a mammogram and sonography that revealed a suspicious lesion. Further tests at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai, confirmed the diagnosis: an early stage, hormone receptor positive cancer that had not spread beyond the breast.