The Canadian Press

Canadian actor Lisa Ray appears on CTV's Canada AM from downtown Toronto during the Toronto International Film Festival, Monday, Sept. 14, 2009.

TORONTO — Toronto actress Lisa Ray is preparing for a stem cell transplant to treat her rare cancer.

The star of "Water" and "Bollywood/Hollywood" was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, in June and began chemotherapy in July.

Ray says she'll go into a Toronto hospital next week to start a procedure that involves releasing her own stem cells into her blood, collecting them and then freezing them.

She says that procedure will take about two weeks and act as a "reboot" of sorts for her system, after which she'll be on a waiting list for the stem cell transplant.

Ray jokes that the whole thing feels "very sci-fi" to her.

The film star, who once modelled in India, spoke Tuesday in an interview at an event for REEL Canada, a program that brings Canadian movies to schools for free.

Ray's film "Water," directed by Deepa Mehta, was played for students at Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School.

It also recently screened at a film festival in Buenos Aires and Ray made the trip to see it.

She said she stayed there for 10 days and it was nice to "get a little bit of a break" from her treatment.

"Healing isn't just about the physical procedures," she added.

"You need to be emotionally and spiritually and psychologically in the right frame of mind so I just needed a break and Buenos Aires was the ticket."

Ray's upcoming films include "Cooking With Stella" and "Defendor," which both screened at the Toronto International Film Festival this year.

She said she's now put her career on hiatus as she goes through treatment.

A major source of her support system, she said, has been the bonding she's done with other cancer patients at the hospital.

"Like any community, you have your own shorthand, so you understand what individually you're going through, which makes things a lot easier," she said.

"But at the same time, I find that what ends up happening is ... people end up really being so transparent and real on some level that that in itself is really refreshing."

"You're just more aware of time and less aware of the pretensions that life imposes on you," added Ray. "So my cancer club has been really awesome."