Thiruvananthapuram: Actor Saranya Sasi who had been battling a rare form of brain tumour since 2012, passed away on Monday at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. She was 35.

Back in late May, she was admitted to hospital due to pneumonia after contracting COVID-19 and was undergoing treatment. Following a surgery in April 2021, she was bed-ridden but later walked back into life with the help of medics and her determination. She had undergone 11 surgeries (nine to remove the brain tumour and two to remove growths in her thyroid) during the initial period of treatment.

Recently, during the lockdown period she had started her own Youtube channel.

Actress Seema Nair, a close friend of the actress had been with her throughout the treatment. It was she who used to give Saranya's health update. By June end, she tested Covid negative but her health condition was getting worse. She was then put on ventilator.

Saranya started her career with a Balachandra Menon serial in 2006 and has done many films and soaps in Malayalam and Tamil. However, just when her career started taking off and became a household name among Keralites, she was affected with a brain tumour.

She also acted in Mohanlal starrer Chotta Mumbai, Thalappavu, Bombay March 12 and Ann Mariya Kalippilanu.

Sharanya married Binu Xavier in November 2014 but later parted ways. 

In an earlier interview with a Malayalam magazine, the actress, who hails from Kannur had revealed that while she was in class seven at Navodaya school, she had fainted after her friend had accidentally thrown shot put on her head. Even though she was then asked to take CT scan, the actress neglected it. However, this incident was pointed out to a doctor by her mother after she started suffering from severe headache again. And a few years later, she was diagnosed with tumour.