There is a place where Innocent runs when his heart is full of joy and when he is sad – the cemetery of the East Church in Iringalakuda. The four people sleeping in the tomb are very dear to Innocent. Father Thekethala Warith, mother Margalitha, elder sister Salina, fourth younger sister Paulu.
Innocent has said that he only cried once when the doctors confirmed that the disease was cancer. It was when he came to the cemetery and told his loved ones about his illness.
The beginning of the disease is a thick tongue. At first I didn’t realize it was lymphoma, a variant of cancer. I thought there was some problem with my throat. Dr. V. P. Gangadharan, who treated him, remembers that even when he was diagnosed with cancer, Innocent was not in a state of complete collapse like normal patients. The doctor says that the recovery from the illness was also quick because the mind was kept in the most pleasant state.
Innocent, who was of the opinion that he who had courage could joke, brought out that quality in full in his illness. ‘A new friend is with you; Yes, I think so. I like to see illness as a friend.’ He described life after cancer as a bonus life.
In spite of everything, the doctor himself witnessed Innocent’s shaking when he found out that his wife Alice had cancer. In good times and bad, Innocent always stood by his family; Family with Innocent. That’s why Innocent said that when his wife got cancer, it was because of Alice’s love for him that she prayed.
Even before his diagnosis, Innocent was a patron of the ‘Alpha Pain and Palliative Clinic’, which provided care and relief to cancer patients. In 2005, when his friend insisted, he hesitated to take up that responsibility, but after going there and seeing the patients, he became active in the activities. Innocent later said that he would not go out for any event without counting the money, and on days when he was not shooting, he would take a shower, change his shirt and run to Alpha. To collect funds for this organization, he left the shooting busy and went to the Gulf countries. Innocent also gratefully recalled that many actors helped out by participating in events without getting paid.
The important thing is that Innocent told the world that he had cancer. I know how many famous people are secretly treated for cancer.’- Dr. Gangadharan said later.
The news that Innocent is dead has been circulated many times. Even when Kerala was shaken, Innocent saw it with a funny eye. One day, Innocent called his wife Alice.
‘The news is spreading that I am dead. Don’t be happy about that. I am alive.
‘Do you think I will believe it, thinking that I will say all that to make people want it?’ – Alice retorted.
