Abu Dhabi: It’s been three months since he left the UAE for treatment in his home state of Kerala in India and Sreekumar V. Kuttan Pillai is back in his house in Thiruvilla, having finally come to terms with the fact he is permanently paralysed from the neck down and will never be able to walk again.
Two years ago, Sreekumar come to the UAE in the hope of providing a better life for his family. He was working as a labourer in Dubai. But destiny had other plans for him.
On June 28 this year, returning to Dubai from a work visit to Abu Dhabi, the company truck Sreekumar was travelling in met with an accident. He was rushed to a hospital in the capital where he underwent surgery but his spine was damaged beyond repair.
His wife Jayanthi, an assistant in a bakery back home, was flown to the UAE to be by his side thanks to the generosity of a group called Musaffah Art Society (MAS).
But neither Jayanthi or Sreekumar were aware of the extent of his condition. The extreme shock Jayanthi was in at the time and Sreekumar’s depressive state of mind prompted the dotors to withhold from the couple the truth about his condition.
Sreekumar was transferred from Abu Dhabi to the Indo American Hospital in Viakom, Kerala, in October where he and his wife, surrounded by family, were finally informed of what awaited him — a lifetime of medical assistance, constant care and no prospect of him moving or working again. The devastated couple, says Anil, a member of MAS, sought solace in the love and support of their family and slowly came to terms with their situation.
Anil says, “Sreekumar began receiving regular physiotherapy to help build strength in his muscles and with Jayanthi or his older brother by his bedside at all times in the hospital, he started to show signs of improvement. The feeding tube was removed from his stomach and he started to eat through his mouth again.”
Just as things were starting to look up, there was another setback, Anil said. Sreekumar developed breathing difficulties due to a chest infection and it was recommended he be moved to another hospital which was better equipped to deal with this condition.
By the end of November, the 47-year-old was transferred to Caritas hospital in Thellakom where he received treatment for his chest infection.
“Doctors have told him to not waste his money on hospital bills as he can receive physiotherapy at home and will be happier being with his children,” says Anil. “But if he suffers a relapse or develops any other breathing problem, he is to return to the hospital immediately.”
When Gulf News published Sreekumar’s story in October 3, people from across the UAE reached out to help him and a sum of over Dh60,000 was handed over to the couple.
Thanks to the generosity of the people of the UAE, Jayanthi has been able to give up her job in the bakery and spends all her time tending to Sreekumar. “I can’t express how happy and grateful I am for the money that was given to us,” she said. “We don’t have anything; without this money, I don’t know what we would have done.”
MAS are also trying to support the couple’s two daughters, 16 and 10, with their education and if they succeed, it should help the couple strike off another major worry from their everyday battle to survive.
In the meanwhile, Jayanthi is taking life one day at a time and not thinking about what the future may bring when the money runs out.
