A PET scan report of senior IPS officer Himanshu Roy who committed suicide on Friday had revealed that his cancer was very much under control.
While Roy had been battling with the illness for a long time, the report that came out 10 days ago showed that his tumour had completely disappeared, and doctors said it was a good sign of recovery. The doctors also discussed how Roy could give hope to people struggling with difficult cancers.
“With positive progress like his, it would be a mistake to say that he killed himself because of the illness. More than the physical problems, it was his state of mind that probably took over,” oncologist Dr. Raj Nagarkar, medical director of HCG Manavata Cancer Centre, Nashik, said.
“It is a personal loss for me,” he said.
A Mumbai Police forensic team arrives at Suniti building, where IPS officer Himanshu Roy committed suicide on Friday.
The Nashik centre has another branch, Centre for Difficult Cancers (CDC), where Roy was under treatment. “I had spoken to him three weeks ago about an open forum for cancer patients and he had agreed to be a speaker. He had been regularly exercising. He was at the gym on Thursday too,” Dr. Nagarkar, who designed the ‘precision treatment’ for Roy which he would take in Mumbai or Pune, said.
In Pune, he was taking treatment under oncologist Dr. Anantbhushan Ranade.
According to Dr. Nagarkar, Roy was first operated in 2000 for a kidney tumour. He underwent radical nephrectomy which involves removing the kidney along with the peripheral tissue and lymph nodes.
In February 2016, the tumour resurfaced in a metastasis form spreading to his bones, brain, muscles and multiple soft tissues. Doctors said his was a last-stage cancer and nothing could be done. Roy also consulted doctors in the U.S. and Portugal, who could not offer much help either.
In November 2016, Roy started his consultations with the CDC where he was among the 140 patients with difficult, last-stage cancers who have been offered precision oncology therapies.
“Roy was put on chemotherapy and targeted therapy which involve an oral drug. He had also taken radiation therapy earlier,” Dr. Nagarkar said, adding like all patients going through difficult illnesses, Roy was taking counselling therapy.
Roy’s body is being taken for cremation in full State honour.
