Emraan Hashmi says he felt depressed when his son was diagnosed with cancer

Bollywood actor Emraan Hashmi says he was shattered as he got to know that his son had cancer, and the news made him go through different emotions.

The "Azhar" star said his son was diagnosed with a very rare case of cancer and the family knew they had a battle to fight.

"In 2014, my son, he was 3 years and ten months, was diagnosed with a very rare case of kidney cancer. It happens to roughly 2-3 per cent of kids under the age of four. My son was part of that unfortunate percentage of kids," he said.

"As a parent, as a care giver in our family, we were shattered. We went through a lot of emotions. Pain, guilt, despair and depression. But, we were willing to fight this battle. We knew we had to go for the long haul and do everything that we could to save our son's life," he said.

Emraan was speaking to reporters in Mumbai at the launch of TATA Memorial and Times Now's 'Cancer Awareness Campaign'.

The actor said he knew that the treatment will be 6-7 months long "after which there is a 5 year survival rate".

"It is a battle which is still going on. But there is one fundamental thing that got us through this, that was the information and knowledge that we got when our son was diagnosed with cancer. That made it easier," he said.

The 37-year-old actor feels there are many people who still have misconceptions regarding cancer.

"There are many people who feel cancer is contagious. There are social stigmas attached to it. I've heard people don't take timely chemotherapy sessions because they take it lightly, and in many cases they feel it is a dead end," he said.