True heroes: Stars who battled cancer

It takes real courage to swim against the current and smile even when you are writhing in pain. These celebs showed great grit in their battle against cancer, eventually conquering the deadly disease. Meet the real heroes.

When Lisa Ray was diagonised with multiple myeloma, she chose to fight back, and write about her battle through a blog, thereby winning more admirers. Ray is often touted as one of the most beautiful people in the world. Though she lost her beautiful tresses during the painful treatment phase, she didn't lose her cool. "What was traumatic about losing my hair this time was I didn't have a choice. But I have enjoyed being bald, relishing the absence of shampoos, conditioners and hair dryers in her life," she said.

Barbara Mori, the gorgeous Mexican beauty who captured Indian hearts with her movie 'Kites' was only 29 when she was diagonised with breast cancer.Barbara believes everything that happens in life comes with a reason. "The disease taught me that you must enjoy what you have in your life today, because you don't know what tomorrow might have in store for you," Barbara said.

Mamta Mohandas, the beautiful South Indian actress survived Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She had to cut her hair for chemotherapy, and is now sporting a new short funky hairdo.

Kylie Minogue has been voted the most inspirational breast cancer star for her willingness to speak openly and honestly about dealing with the disease.

Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon had gone for surgery and six-and-a-half weeks of daily radiation treatment when she was diagnosed with the breast cancer. She said the traumatic experience made her look at life from a new perspective.

Seven time Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong is perhaps the most inspirational cancer survivor. He was only 25 when he was diagonised with the illness and he made an amazing recovery.
He wrote two books - 'It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life' and 'Every Second Counts' about his battle with cancer.