As days passed by, I had to confront many health problems. Besides falling as a child, issues during of falling of milk teeth, etc., I met with a few accidents too. Each one of them made me physically weaker and weaker. They deformed my joints as I, along with my parents, knew nothing about dealing with such situations. I lost my ambulatory capacity by the age of 12. Elbows lost their flexibility. No doctor guided us. I spent countless sleepless nights. My parents would sit beside me on those nights and would helplessly cry with me. All we knew were taking painkillers and giving rest to painful joints. As there was no exercise because of no guidance, muscles got wasted after natural healing after weeks. Those were the horrible days that no sufferer or a parent would like to recollect. No sport, no attendance in any function… secluded was my life within four walls. The only refreshment was listening to my tape recorder in those depressed, painful days and nights. The use of icepacks was advised to me only at my age of 15!

Amazingly, my health issues never became an impediment to my interest in studying. I would sit beside my dad, a teacher, who was conducting tuitions for high school students when I was in primary school itself, though I could understand little. Yes, my attendance in school was low owing to frequent bleeds. But my teachers obliged. Incredibly, I stood first in my class in all my school days. It can only be HIS grace that there were no severe bleeds during the days of final examinations, though elbow pain was common then. But I never gave up! 

I was initially denied of Science subjects in the college because the college admin thought my poor health state could come in the way of managing my laboratory classes. But my dad and I fought for it as I never ever thought of studying any other discipline. Finally, the admin succumbed. I ruled out the line of technical education as I knew my physical constraints and went on to BSc. The whole college faculty was on cloud nine when I came out first in the Final Year University Examination, bagging all the gold medals and prizes available. 

Soon after my degree, I joined the Postal Department at Arsikere itself. I was going to the office on my motorised tricycle. Had minor accidents a couple of times, which was enough to deteriorate my health further; had cranial bleeds too. And finally, after putting in just 14 years of service, I inevitably took retirement on medical grounds. Is this the end of my life? No, it’s good to think that hard days are yet to come. I try to be involved in my fields of interest to some extent. Resting on laurels is no good. Technology shows us new possibilities. 

What went wrong, and what went right in my life? One can see Destiny in my life from both the views, as mentioned in the beginning:

Negatives: (1) Lack of health guidance in the first two decades, which robbed me of most of my future. (2) Gave more importance to my field of interest, studies, than my health.

Positives: I (1) never reclined on pretexts. (2) converted my drawbacks into positive factors by considering physical constrains as an opportunity to avoid possible distractions and concentrated on my studies. (3) wholeheartedly loved whatever I studied; never studied from the examination point of view. Frequently, I went beyond the stipulated syllabus. Inquisitiveness is a must to learn.

Dealing with Hemophilia is very hard, but not impossible now. Recent advancements in the medical field have ameliorated the lives of us, the lifelong sufferers, to the extent of bringing down Hemophilia from a disease to a disorder. But we should be ready for some sacrifices in our lifestyles and expose ourselves to proper guidance from the very beginning. Nowadays, it is well known that physiotherapy heals many ailments. It is more prominent in the case of people like us, PWH. The importance of health is better understood by an Arabic saying: ‘Wealth is zero; knowledge is zero; happiness is zero; heath is one. Put one (health) before all the other factors; you will be a rich person. But without that one (health), you are zero’. Balancing between health and other aspects of life is very important. 

Finally, how to accept our life? It can be better understood by DVG, the renowned Kannada laureate’s lines:

       ಬರದಿಹುದರೆಣಿಕೆಯಲಿ ಬಂದಿಹುದ ಮರೆಯದಿರು |

       ಗುರುತಿಸೊಳಿತಿರುವುದನು ಕೇಡುಗಳ ನಡುವೆ ||

       ಇರುವ ಭಾಗ್ಯವ ನೆನೆದು ಬಾರೆನೆಂಬುದನು ಬಿಡು |

       ಹರುಷಕದೆ ದಾರಿಯೆಲೊ – ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮ ||

I hope my life throws some light on families with PWH what to do and what not. Wishing you all good health, always!