On the eve of my 45th birthday, I get a call from an unknown number which as a habit I ignored. All my near and dear family, friends and patients are aware that texting is a better way to reach me and if it’s an emergency or important they should dial me twice one after the other. This call came again and was from Mr Anupam Kharwar, a soft-spoken gentleman who has not grown a bit since the time I first met him in 2007. The first words he could come out was-

“Sir, She did it; She did it.

Shivani was a 5y old when I first met the Kharwars. They were referred to me by Dr Asim Negi from Indore. Mr Anupam Kharwar is with Ashok Leyland and is blessed with a beautiful family with two young daughters- Shivani and Astha. It was the “Astha”( faith/trust) which brought the family to me to take care of Shivani.

Shivani was born with Congenital Scoliosis with Diastematomyelia (split spinal cord) and tethering of the spine that means the tail end of the spinal cord was pulled down from birth and was creating traction as the kid was growing in height. She had a plethora of natural anomalies of the bony spine and the spinal cord, which needed urgent surgical intervention by opening the spinal cord, removing the bony mass dividing the cord into two, detethering the tethered cord to avoid neurological deficit in the form of paralysis below the waist and losing power control of both bladder and bowel. Doing in situ fusion of the bony anomaly and observing the kid closely to avoid any deformity or disability during the second growth spurt between 9-13. The surgery was a huge success, and the kid did extremely well, attended school regularly with sincere follow up with me.

When she came back in 2015 during her puberty, she started developing progressive scoliosis at the site of mid-thoracic spinal bony anomalies. Congenital scoliosis is never predictable and requires frequent follow up to intervene at the right time. I recommended surgical intervention with instrumentation and correction of the deformity. The surgery is to balance the shape of the child and prevent further deterioration. All the risk like paralysis, implant failure, infection, ICU care was explained. Again “Astha” played a big role and family handed over the kid in my hands with full trust, faith and a desire to get her better. Surgery was uneventful and the kid did very well with her recuperation.

During one of my post-surgical rounds on day 3, Shivani who was now a adolescent asked me “Doc, where did you do your MBBS and MS from? I will like to become a Doctor like you one day”; I told her why like me you should aim to become better than me as you have an empty canvas and can paint your life the way you want.

The call by Mr Kharwar after four years when Shivani is 17 on the eve of my birthday, listening to it I was awestruck and spellbound with a different kind of feeling, which I never felt before in my 44y of existence. In the next few hours I was going to run into my 45th year and the entire life came back to me in a flash. I felt overwhelmed and rejoiced by my contribution to the thinking of a budding kid with me supporting her “back” in both physical and literary sense that she was able to achieve the goal that she planned on that painful postoperative day in 2015. Till that call I was modelling my role models and trying to achieve what they have before me, the call was a role reversal call.

“ Sir, She did it; She did it. We are at KEM hospital after taking admission of Shivani in the prestigious GSMC…….the first person I thought of was you, Thank you Thank you”.

The Kharwar’s felt that I did a big favour on them by motivating their kid to become a doctor from one of the prestigious institute of our country but the truth is, it’s Shivani which has imbibed in me confidence of doing better and better in all my future Shivani’s. Thank you…. you are my role model of grit, determination, dedication and true character…..your physical deformity and disability didn’t stumble you from reaching the pinnacle. God Bless my child!!