DEHRADUN: Baba Danish Langer (21), of Jammu, had always dreamt of joining the Army. But a paralytic attack in 2017, triggered by Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) — that is caused by viral or bacterial infection and is treated mainly by blood transfusions — almost buried his hopes. However, he was not the one to give up. On Saturday, among the many young cadets hooting and throwing their hats in the air as they graduated from the Indian Military Academy was Langer. He was an officer now.
Son of a soil conservation officer, Langer overcame the condition with willpower and one-track focus on his ambition of getting into the Army. “That plus extensive physiotherapy and training hard for a military career eventually saw him through,” his father Rajesh Langer told TOI after his son’s passing out parade.
Rajesh added: “He overcame the health condition within six months. Despite the hurdles, here we are today, a proud father of the first Army officer in the family.”
GBS is a rare autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks the nerves and can affect a person’s motor functioning for up to a year. It is usually treated with immunotherapy like plasma exchange.
Several of Langer’s batchmates said they salute his courage. One of them said, “Many in his place would have given up and blamed it all on fate. But Danish was always clear that he would someday don the uniform of an Indian Army officer. All of us are very happy for him.”
