For most students who attempted the recent board exams, it must have been the biggest hurdle that they had to overcome in life. But, for one student, M. Rishikesh (16), battles had defined his life. So, he sailed effortlessly through the 10th standard examination and secured 475 marks in 500.
Rishikesh contracted pneumonia when he was just one year old. After recurrent respiratory infections, a doctor recommended hospitalising the child. Not only did Rishikesh’s health not improve, it even deteriorated further and had to be put on ventilator support in a bigger hospital.
Here, the doctors informed his parents that the damage had already happened. Rishikesh’s trachea had narrowed extensively. After being in and out of the hospital on ventilator support for two more months with not much improvement, he was discharged. Doctors said that the damage was unrepairable, and that there was nothing more to be tried. At this point, the doctor who had initially diagnosed his condition, referred him to an ENT specialist, Dr. Mohan Kameswaran, at the Madras ENT Research Foundation in 2010.
