“Cancer Is Just One Part of Me”: Urvashi Prasad on Life With Stage 4 ALK-Positive Lung Cancer

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"You are still the same person fundamentally. You are just living with cancer."

For Urvashi Prasad, Senior Fellow, Pahle India Foundation, former Director, NITI Aayog, patient advocate, and a Stage 4 ALK-positive lung cancer survivor, those words are less philosophy and more survival.

On World Cancer Day, we spoke to her about navigating life between hospital visits, policy conversations and advocacy work, while holding two difficult truths at once: that cancer changes everything, and yet somehow, it doesn't change who you are at the core.

Her first reaction wasn't dramatic. It was silent.

"Initially, absolutely nothing," she recalls. "It's such a shocking thing... it took me several weeks to process what had happened."

The numbness lingered long enough for her to recognise she needed help. She put herself on antidepressants, something she openly advocates for even today.

Because surviving cancer, she says, isn't just physical. It's deeply mental.

When Stage Four Becomes Everyday Life

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Stage 4 lung cancer, she explains, isn't just a medical term. It's a lifelong negotiation.

"It's metastatic, which means it's spread to different organs and parts of the body. It's extremely challenging, not just in India, but across the world."

Despite being the biggest cancer killer globally, lung cancer often doesn't receive the same research attention or funding as other cancers. Treatment is complex, expensive, and highly personalised.

"At this point, it is not curable, which means you never actually come off treatment. You have to keep taking your medicines day in and day out. And that is really the hardest part."

There's no finish line. No moment when treatment stops. Just daily medication, scans, and the uncertainty of how long each drug will work.

The Pressure To Be "Positive"

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There are days, she admits, when the weight of it all feels unbearable.

"Countless moments where you feel broken, hopeless, sick and tired of your medicines, your scans, your tests, when you don't even want to meet your oncologist."

What frustrates her most is society's expectation that patients must stay cheerful.

"I speak a lot about toxic positivity. I don't know why people with cancer are expected to be 24/7 positive. It doesn't happen. There is no human being who is like that."

Instead, she chooses something simpler.

"You have to be kind to yourself. If you're having a bad day, that's okay. You just have to live through it and hope the next day is better."

"There is no look associated with cancer"

Lung cancer still carries stereotypes that it only happens to smokers or that the illness should look a certain way.

Urvashi has heard the comments.

"Strangers will come up to you and say, 'You look so good, you don't look like you have cancer.' There is no look associated with cancer. Every person living with cancer is different."

She points out that rising air pollution is increasingly contributing to lung cancer among non-smokers, too, something that rarely gets discussed enough.

The issue, she says, goes far beyond individual habits.

Acting Early, Even Without Signs

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Ironically, there were no obvious warning signs.

"This type of cancer often gives no signs until it is already stage four."

Her first symptom wasn't even lung-related. It showed up in her liver. Still, she trusted her instincts and sought help immediately. From the first symptom to diagnosis, it took less than two months, unusually quick.

Her advice is practical and urgent.

"As soon as you notice anything different with your body or your mind, don't ignore it. Get it investigated."

In a country without routine lung cancer screening, early action can make all the difference.

Living Normally And Protecting Peace Fiercely

Comfort, for her, isn't anything extraordinary.

Movies. Shopping. Friends. Work.

"I'm just a very regular person," she says.

But cancer has changed her boundaries.

"If your company is not good for my mental health, then I will cut you out quite brutally. Now I'm very clear that I have to be my own number one priority."

She takes the trip she wants. Spends the day resting without guilt. Stops over-explaining herself.

Less postponing. More living.

More Than a Diagnosis

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That's also why she resists the term "cancer patient".

"That means your whole existence is defined by this disease, which it is not," she says. "I'm a policy expert. I'm a public health expert. I've been a dancer, a performer. There are so many dimensions to me. This is just one part of it."

Cancer may have entered her life, but it hasn't rewritten who she is.

A Message Beyond Medicine

For Urvashi, cancer isn't only a hospital battle. It's a societal one.

"Cancer is not just a health system issue. It's a whole-of-society issue."

She wants governments to tackle pollution seriously. Families to show empathy. People to listen instead of judging.

"If you don't know what to say to someone who has been diagnosed, it's best to keep quiet and listen."

Because she reminds us, the risk is universal.

"The chances are that one in two of us will be diagnosed with cancer in our lifetimes. It could be anybody."

And maybe that's what makes her voice linger long after the conversation ends, not dramatic, not defeated, just deeply human.

Still the same person.

Just living with cancer.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.