Yuvraj Singh talks about the period when he was diagnosed with cancer, saying the disease started when he was at the peak of his career, even as he continued to play for India.At the time, Yuvraj played a major role in India’s 2011 World Cup win, being the man of the tournament. He was dealing with fatigue, nausea and pain during the tournament. The disease was not detected then and he continued to play.
After the tournament, his condition worsened and later medical tests revealed a rare form of cancer, a tumor in his chest.Yuvraj said in a conversation with Michael Vaughan on The Overlap podcast on YouTube, “Disagreeing with him was something I was going through because, as a player, you can’t get sick. You had to play for India. But eventually, I got sick while playing cricket.”He said the sport often trains players to ignore such signs. “As a player, you don’t think about getting sick. You have to play for India.”“It was hard to accept. At the peak of your career, you are at the top of a mountain and then you fall into an abyss,” said Yuvraj on learning that he had cancer. “I was in Delhi. We were going on a tour of the West Indies and England. Ganguly had retired and my Test spot had just opened up. I had been waiting seven years for this spot. I said, ‘I don’t care if I die, I need this spot.’ But I got sicker and sicker.”After the doctors explained the risks, the seriousness of his condition became clear.“He said to me, ‘Mate, I’ve seen your scans. The tumor is sitting on a pipe, between your heart and your lungs. Either you go and play cricket, or you’re going to have a heart attack. I think you’ve got three to six months if you don’t do chemotherapy.'”This forced him to step back and take a decision.“That’s when I realized I really needed to think about what to do. It wasn’t easy because I run a cancer foundation that focuses on early detection, and here I was, not attuned to what I was going through,” he said.Yuvraj then went abroad for treatment and underwent chemotherapy in the United States during 2011-12. He said that it took time to accept the situation.“It took me almost a year to come to terms with the fact that I might not play cricket again. But once the treatment was over, I was determined to come back, even though no one believed I could.”During treatment, he continued to follow the game and even met senior players like Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar.
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“I was watching old videos. Anil Kumble came to America, closed my laptop, and said, ‘Focus on your health, stop watching cricket videos.’ Sachin came to meet me in England. Dr. Einhorn gave me confidence; He said, ‘You will be a man who walks out of this hospital and never has cancer again.’ I came back and played for India in six months – the T20 World Cup. I wasn’t at my best, but I still got a man of the match. Then Zaheer Khan and I went to France for two months of fitness training in a remote area called Brio. We got fit, came back, and came back again,” reveals Yuvraj.
