Health is Wealth: Hope wins, from hospital bed

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Hope wins, from hospital bed

Mumbai: One was hospitalised for viral fever bang in the middle of the ICSE exams. Another was hospitalised for gastroenteritis. A third was battling the rarest of rare intestinal diseases. All three scored over 90 per cent in the exams.
    From the age of three, Arjun Banerjee has been battling intestinal lymphangiectasia — a disease whereby proteins are lost through the intestines. As a child, doctors had given him only a few years to live. But on Wednesday, Banerjee was celebrating, after scoring a whopping 92.6 per cent in his CBSE Class XII exams.
    A commerce student at Apeejay School, Nerul, he could only study for two to three hours a day due to his illness, and was often confined to his bed in the days prior to the Board exams, due to his failing health.
    Though he fell ill before his Economics exam, he stood third in the Commerce stream from his school.
    Another student, Aiyush Bahl, was down with a bout of viral fever in the middle of his ICSE exams, and was hospitalised for a couple of days. But once again, he didn't let his ill health stop him from revising, and even studied while in hospital. This student of Lilavati Podar School, Santa Cruz, managed to score 92.8 per cent at the Boards.
    Like Aiyush, Madhuri Sarma, a student of JB Petit High School, was hospitalised during the ICSE exams, thanks to a bout of gastroenteritis. "I spent half a day in hospital before my Hindi exam,'' said Madhuri, who also carried her books with her. "I was so tense in hospital that I couldn't sleep, despite sleeping pills,'' said Madhuri. She scored an impressive 91.14 per cent.