Ex-Brazilian president fears losing voice

Rio de Janeiro, March 31 (IANS) Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said he was more afraid of losing his voice than dying from cancer.

"If I lose my voice, I would be dead," Xinhua quoted the former president, who was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer last year, as saying.

Lula also said in the interview with Folha de Sao Paulo daily Friday that he suffered from severe nausea during the four months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments, which he qualified as devastating.

Earlier this week, his physicians said Lula will continue to undergo speech therapy sessions in the Sirio-Libanes Hospital, in Sao Paulo, as well as have periodical physical tests. He can only be pronounced cured after five years.

Lula, an influential figure in Brazil, said he did not intend to run for any posts in the 2014 presidential and state government elections.

Lula stressed that his biggest wish was to help his successor, Brazil's current President Dilma Rousseff, who was in Delhi for the summit of BRICS nations.