Ankita never smoked a cigarette in her life. So she assumed her nagging chronic cough must’ve something to do with congestion or pollution. She was first diagnosed with bronchitis in March 2015 but no amount of medication helped. The chest irritation became unbearable, she could barely utter a line without coughing.
5 months later, extensive X-rays revealed a possible patch of pneumonia. After days of antibiotics and weight loss, she finally thought that it would be the end of all the coughing jokes. But that was not to be. The cough got worse.
Days after her 32nd birthday, she collapsed with breathlessness and heartburn. An extensive investigation revealed a tumour, the size of a lemon, burried at the back of her lung which escaped all scans over the past year.
Ankita was diagnosed with lung cancer, stage 4. The worst kind. Incurable and untreatable. Ankita, not her real name, never smoked a cigarette in her life.