Rattled By Level 1 Cancer Attack, Dutee Chand Living And Training In Fear

India's fastest woman runner Dutee Chand experienced the shock of her life when she was told by a doctor in November 2021 that level 1 cancer has attacked her body and she must quit the sport. That was after she failed to go past the preliminary round in the Tokyo Olympics women's 100m and 200m races. Sports Medicine expert Dr Sudeep Satpathy, a professor at the Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in Bhubaneswar, diagnosed the onset of level 1 cancer in Dutee's body.

"I felt very scary, nervous, thinking what has happened to my life," Dutee told PTI from Bhubaneswar, recollecting the conversation she had with the doctor her after the MRI report.

Doctor Satpathy was attached with the Indian hockey team at one point of time.

Sharing her ordeal, Dutee said her problems began with a groin injury in 2021. "While competing in the National Inter-State Championships before the Tokyo Olympics (2021), I felt a lot of pain in the groin area. I consulted some doctors but the pain did not go. I went to Olympics (July-August, 2021) and could not do well there," she said.

"After returning from the Olympics, the pain kept increasing. I did an ultrasound in November 2021. Nothing came in the ultrasound.

"Then I got an MRI scan done and the doctor (Sudeep Satpathy) told me that level 1 testicular cancer attack has begun. He said I have to quit sport otherwise it will get worse." Asked which parts of the body could have been affected by cancer, Dutee said she can think of only groin area.

"I am having testosterone hormone imbalance, so it could be from there. The groin pain was increasing slowly. Everybody was saying it's groin pain but the doctor said cancer attack can happen if it (the pain) continues." In 2015, Dutee had won a