Model-turned-actress Sonali Bendre, who was diagnosed with high grade cancer last year, said early detection and spreading awareness about the disease is essential. In July 2018, she was diagnosed with cancer and she underwent the treatment in New York. She returned to the city in December. Sonali Bendre said though the disease is scary, early diagnosis can make the treatment less painful.”Early detection is most important. Right now the disease is less scary and the treatment is actually more frightening and painful. If it were detected early, the cost of treatment would have been less. It would also have been a lesser painful treatment,” Bendre said on Saturday at the international conference Cahocon 2019, organised by the Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organisation. The 44-year-old actress post her diagnosis she got to know that some of her family members had cancer. “I wish I knew about it. I wouldn’t have thought this would happen to me,” she said.