Friday, August 7, 2009

Shammi Kapoor speaks about his battle with the little-known disease

By: Hemal Ashar Date: 2009-08-06 Place: Mumbai




Celebrities are notorious for keeping their guard up, not letting the world see that their star (literally) has dimmed, that they are human after all. So former star Shammi Kapoor deserves a double yahoo for letting his defences down and giving the world a peek into his frailties.

The actor was at the Breach Candy hospital on Tuesday afternoon, along with a clutch of doctors to raise awareness about peripheral vascular disease. The relatively little known disease occurs when there is a blockage of blood flow from the artery to organs other than the heart.


In familiar territory

The SoBo hospital is familiar territory for the actor, (also a kidney patient) who takes regular dialysis at the hospital. Shammi is also a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) sufferer, where his lungs have been compromised. He arrived in a wheelchair; and ribbed the docs at the press conference, "Ah, you all are wearing ties today." He then asked in jest, "What do you want me to talk about? The last time I winked at a girl? Okay, okay, I will tell you about my experience with vascular disease."

Lost toes

The flamboyant Kapoor was afflicted with the disease last year. He said, "I lost a toe on each of my feet to vascular disease. I was saved from losing my limbs by timely medical treatment." He then revealed how he heard the doctors who were operating on him in the operation theatre. "I was given local anaesthesia, so I could hear the docs speaking: "Here I found it, hey milaa vein, oh artery.

The pain was so bad, I started shrieking, an anaesthetist clamped my mouth shut." He said gesticulating wildly to laughter by the docs. The docs admitted that Shammi started bleeding while the operation was on and his thigh had swelled to twice the size, underlining the gravity of this disease.

Finally, Shammi when urged to give a message to mark Vascular Awareness Day on August 6, told people to take timely medical help, with the same flourish he delivered lines like Chahe koi mujhe jungli kahe on screen.

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