The story of Harshita
At the age of 11, I went through a traumatic experience. I woke up to the news that my mother had suffered from food poisoning. She was taken to a hospital while I was sent to school. When I came back home, I was asked to have lunch but I remember people coming and hugging me out of nowhere. That’s when I realized that a part of my life had been shattered. I wanted answers to how this could have happened. The last thing that I remember about her was tucking me in bed. The next day I was forced to see her dead body to pay my last respects, but I did not get answers. That’s when I made the first decision of my life at the age of 11, I moved to a hostel and started to take charge of my life all by myself.
While I saw my peers in the hostel getting advice and comfort from their mothers. I used to overhear those mother-daughter conversations in the hostel and guided myself alone. There were times I needed a hand to guide me through life but I found myself alone. I had to pull myself out and keep moving forward.
Everything was falling back in place untill 2016,
It was one fine evening. I had a badminton match that I won and came back to my room. That day my whole life suddenly flipped upside down.
A long night of insufferable pain followed by the inability to stand up on my feet followed by being hospitalized led us to the knowledge that I had been diagnosed with something called GBS. GBS (Guillain-Barre Syndrome) is a very rare neurological disorder in which your immune system starts to attack the nervous system.In simpler words, your body starts to destroy itself. That was the day when I first heard of this disease. Unfortunately, I learned it through my case. By the time it was diagnosed, my lungs had already stopped working and I was shifted to the ICU. I slipped into a coma for 47 days. I survived with the help of a ventilator for four months. Even then, only my lungs were functioning. The rest of my body caught paralysis. It took me a whole year to get out of the paralysis. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, my entire life had changed. From playing badminton at such a high level and earning a black belt in martial arts, I had to learn every human activity, be it as simple as walking or writing, all over again. I was a toddler again in a grown-up human body. I tried my absolute best sitting in a wheelchair to get through final exams in senior secondary school.
Even though I could not sit for longer than half an hour at once, I did not want to spend a whole year in recovery and give my final exams next year. I had to learn to manage my time between many hours of physiotherapy and studying whatever I could for my exam. I gave my exams sitting in a wheelchair. I was able to clear my exams and put myself into a good college.
During all this, I gained a lot of weight.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, I decided to become a better version of myself.
I cannot do any activity against gravity, but woth my hard work I managed to lose more than 30 kgs.
Spending more than a year in the hospital taught me that it takes serious dedication and a never-give-up attitude to overcome the difficulties in life. After shifting from a walker to walking independently, it led me to value the smaller things. I learned to face difficult situations with courage. I have offer from European B-Schools now and hoping to start a great journey.
In next 5-10 years I see myself happy, satisfied and most importantly at peace with myself regardless of the bumpy ride which I’ve had.
I see myself building my own venture and a successful Manager or a banker.