‘I THOUGHT I WOULD DIE’: SONIA GANDHI REVEALS TWO CANCER BATTLES, SECRET SURGERIES AND 2016 COLLAPSE IN NEW MEMOIR

NEW DELHI:

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has opened up about two major cancer scares and other serious health challenges in her newly released memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love.

In a rare account of her medical history, she reveals that she underwent breast cancer surgery in 2010 and was diagnosed with a precancerous growth in her pancreas a year later. She also recalls collapsing during an election rally in Varanasi in 2016, breaking her shoulder and requiring another operation.

The 526-page memoir, published by HarperCollins India, also traces her childhood in post-war Italy, marriage into the Nehru-Gandhi family, Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and her eventual entry into politics.

TWO CANCER SCARES — THE PART NO ONE KNEW

Sonia writes that her second term as Congress president during the UPA government's tenure brought unexpected personal challenges. Apart from occasional asthma, allergies and stomach problems, she had not experienced any major health issues before then.

Then came 2010.

BREAST CANCER SURGERY — 2010

Doctors at Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital advised her to undergo surgery for suspected breast cancer.

Concerned about media attention and the loss of privacy, she decided against treatment at Mumbai's Tata Memorial Hospital and instead travelled to the *European Institute of Oncology near Milan.

Accompanied by Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Robert Vadra and her sisters Nadia and Anouchka, she underwent surgery under renowned surgeon *Dr Umberto Veronesi.

She recalls the most emotional moment:

 “Rahul and Priyanka held my hand and kissed my forehead before I was wheeled into the operation theatre.”

Doctors removed two tumours and also performed intra-operative radiation, sparing her five weeks of radiotherapy.

For years, the Congress only said she had gone abroad for “medical treatment”. Now, for the first time, she has revealed it was breast cancer.

PANCREATIC TUMOUR DETECTED — 2011

A year later, a follow-up examination revealed another growth in her pancreas, leaving Sonia and her children shocked.

Doctors initially suspected a neuroendocrine tumour, which would have required a lengthy operation and hospital stay.

She was subsequently treated at Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam by pancreatic surgeon Dr Casper van Eijck.

Sonia recalls fearing the worst, particularly the possibility that the growth could be metastatic that the breast cancer had spread.

However, following surgery, the doctor informed her that the tumour was at an early precancerous stage and had been detected in time.

It was not cancer. But it could have become cancer if not caught.

2016 COLLAPSE — THE VARANASI SCARE

Another medical emergency occurred in August 2016 during an Assembly election rally in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

After spending nearly five hours travelling through crowds in a campaign convoy, in extreme heat and dust, Sonia collapsed and was flown to Delhi.

She recalls drifting in and out of consciousness during the flight and having a vision of her late husband, Rajiv Gandhi, reaching out to her reassuringly.

Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who accompanied her, later told Sonia that she had suddenly smiled during the tense journey.

The fall left Sonia with a badly fractured shoulder, requiring another operation.

That collapse forced her to step back from active campaigning. Many in Congress say it was the turning point when Rahul Gandhi took over as party president in 2017.

 WHY SHE KEPT IT SECRET

Sonia writes that she did not want her illness to become a political story.

She did not want sympathy votes

 She did not want opponents to say she was “unfit”

She did not want her children to be hounded by cameras outside a hospital

So she chose hospitals in Milan and Rotterdam  far from Indian media.

Even her closest party leaders did not know the full details.

OTHER REVELATIONS IN THE MEMOIR

The book also contains another heartbreaking revelation reported earlier:

‘We Fell In Love With Him Immediately’:Sonia recalls the heartbreaking loss of her firstborn  a baby boy who died soon after birth, before Rahul and Priyanka were born.

She writes about her lonely childhood in post-war Italy, her love story with Rajiv Gandhi in Cambridge, the shock of Indira Gandhi's assassination, Rajiv's assassination in 1991, and how she was forced into politics in 1998 to save the Congress.

Congress leaders have called the memoir “courageous” and “deeply human”.

Supporters say it shows Sonia not as a politician, but as a mother, wife, and a woman who fought cancer twice while leading the country’s oldest party.

Doctors say her story is a powerful message for women: Early detection saves lives.Her breast tumour and pancreatic tumour were both caught early because of regular check-up

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