Young Dhritiraj Deka had dreams of joining NASA as an astronaut but little did he know that his body would give way.
Despite suffering from locomotor and muscular dystrophy, a condition which makes him unable to move without the help of others since he was eight, he completed his class X board exams from Guwahati Public School, securing 55 per cent. In school, even when he had to sit in one place for hours together, he never complained.
His grit and determination was acknowledged with the award for courage at the first edition of the IIHM Presents The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence 2018, Powered by Sister Nivedita University, at ITA Pragjyoti Centre for Performing Arts on Saturday.
The awards, administered by The Telegraph Education Foundation and launched in 1996 in Calcutta, were held for the first time in the Northeast.
It was in 2011, when his father, after getting no proper response to Dhritiraj’s condition from local doctors, decided to consult experts in New Delhi. Dhritiraj was then diagnosed with muscular dystrophy.
The ever-smiling Dhritiraj has a twin sister who is healthy. His mother passed away in 2015 because of a liver ailment.
“I have left no stone unturned in seeking treatment for my boy. From medical science to Ayurveda the answers have been the same — no cure. I had even consulted yoga guru Baba Ramdev. He is 16 now. I bathe him and take care of him. I have now started to follow asanas prescribed by Baba Ramdev. I have almost lost hope as I have even consulted experts in the US and China. They all said there is no treatment,” Dhritiraj’s father, Rohini Kumar Deka, said. “Medical experts told me that his condition is genetic. But no one in my family history has any genetic disorder. I am perplexed. I am continuing with whatever possibility I have in my possession.”
Dhritiraj, who was whe-eled in to receive the award, is now enrolled under the National Institute of Open Sch-ooling.
He loves reading and among his favourite is The Telegraph which he zealously reads. But of late he avoids talking to and meeting people. His father has given him a laptop and a desktop so that he can continue with his studies.