Rishi Kapoor dies at 67 due to leukemia. What is leukemia?

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Rishi Kapoor died at the age of 67 on April 30 in Mumbai. The actor passed away peacefully at 8:45 am in the hospital after a two-year battle with leukemia. The veteran actor was admitted to HN Reliance Hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday morning.

The news of his death was confirmed by his family, who released a statement to the media. The statement said, “Our dear Rishi Kapoor passed away peacefully at 8.45 am IST in hospital today after a two-year battle with leukemia. The doctors and medical staff said he kept them entertained to the last. He remained jovial and determined to live to the fullest right through two years of treatment across two continents.”

The senior actor was diagnosed with cancer in 2018 and he returned to India from New York in September last year, after his cancer treatment.

Here’s all you need to know about leukemia:

What is leukemia?

Leukemia is a cancer of blood-forming tissues, including bone marrow, hindering the body’s ability to fight infection. It is caused by a rise in the number of white blood cells in our body. The white blood cells then crowd out red blood cells and platelets, which our body needs to be healthy.

Types of leukemia

Many types of leukemia exist, such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Symptoms

Many patients with slow-growing types of leukemia don’t have any symptoms. However, people with rapidly growing types of leukemia may have symptoms that include fatigue, weight loss, frequent infections, and easy bleeding or bruising.

Patients also experience pain in the bones or joints, dizziness, fever, loss of appetite, mouth ulcer, nosebleed, pallor, red spots on skin, shortness of breath, swollen lymph nodes, unintentional weight loss or weakness.

Rishi Kapoor is survived by a wife and actor Neetu Kapoor, son Ranbir Kapoor and daughter Riddhima Kapoor Sahni.